


Protecting the Batbrothers

by BlackCanary0001



Series: Protecting the Batbrothers [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, BAMF Dick Grayson, Batbrothers (DCU), Batbrothers (DCU) Bonding, Blood and Gore, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dick Grayson Angst, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is Robin, Dick Grayson-centric, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, Hurt Damian Wayne, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt Tim Drake, Identity Reveal, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jason Todd Angst, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Has PTSD, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd-centric, Kidnapping, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Bruce Wayne, Protective Dick Grayson, Protective Jason Todd, Psychological Torture, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Scars, The team is overwhelmed by the Brothers and has no idea how to handle them, Torture, everybody has issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 36,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26212132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCanary0001/pseuds/BlackCanary0001
Summary: "Robin was fuming. The actual hell? This wasn't the first time a psychopath was trying to kidnap him, but sending the team?! Had Batman lost his mind?The man continued briefing them in, not acknowledging his son glaring daggers at him. "The Joker is not to underestimate. You have only encountered him briefly, but beware, you will be in Gotham, his home turf. If something goes terribly wrong, you contact me.""Or, Bruce Wayne received a threatening letter, the Joker declaring he would harm his children should Gotham's wealthiest refuse to hand over an unimaginable amount of money. In response, Batman assigns the team to move into Wayne Manor and protect the boys, claiming to be on a unavoidable mission with Robin.Robin is not amused. How was he supposed to keep his identety a secret, his brothers in check and everyone alive without it all exploding in his face?1. Protecting the Batbrothers2. Project W.I.N.G.
Relationships: Artemis Crock/Wally West, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & Everyone, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & The Team (Young Justice), Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Kon-El | Conner Kent/M'gann M'orzz, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne
Series: Protecting the Batbrothers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905292
Comments: 28
Kudos: 207





	1. Protecting the Batbrothers

**Author's Note:**

> So, welcome to my first ao3 story... no idea what to write here... anyway, this is cross-posted on Wattpad (my username is phantasyfan). I'm mostly active there but I'll try to post all my work here too...

Disclaimer: Non of this is mine (except the plot), all rights to DC

Age:  
Dick: 16

Jason: 15 (just after he came back to life)

Tim: 12

Damian: 10

Dick is Robin, Jason is the Red Hood, Tim is Red Robin, but Damian isn't Robin (because Dick is, duh).

Wally knows Dick's identity.


	2. Prolouge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is appointed a new mission and Robin is close to losing his mind.

Robin groaned as he sat on the couch in Mount Justice, awaiting Batman's arrival. The whole team was assembled and waiting for the monotone voice of the Zeta tube to announce the Dark Knight.

"Where is he?" grumbled Kid Flash, who was sitting next to Robin, munching on burned cookies. "I don't know. He should be here any second now."  
Wally rolled his eyes and huffed. "You said the exact same thing twenty minutes ago!"  
Sighing, Robin turned to glare at his best friend, "Then you surely realise that I have no idea what's taking him so long."  
Wally crossed his arms. "But it's so-"  
He was interrupted by the Zeta tube. " _Recognized: Batman 02_ ".  
"Finally!" cried Wally, jumping off of the couch, hitting his friend in the head accidentally.  
Robin chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, standing up as well.

They met Batman in the commission room, Wally jumping up and down impatiently. "I am sorry I'm late, I had business to attend to." The team gathered around the older man and waited eagerly for him to continue. "I have a mission for all of you, except for Robin."  
He looked at his protege briefly. "I need you to come to Germany with me, a business associate requested our help. As for the rest of you-" he said, turning his attention back to the team, "The Joker plans on attacking Gotham's wealthiest. I have heard he will try and attack Wayne Manor. Mr. Wayne has donated a great sum to the Justice League and therefore we owe him our protection. He has left the country on a business trip and his butler is visiting a friend of his in New Zealand, but his four sons are still in Gotham. You will move to Wayne Manor and protect them until the Joker is in custody again."

Robin almost choked on his own spit and Wally tried to contain his laughter (not very successful). Robin glared at him. _The actual hell? This wasn't the first time a psychopath was trying to kidnap him, but sending the team?! Had Batman lost his mind?_

Robin scowled at Batman, but the man pointedly ignored him. "The Joker is not to underestimate. He is one of the most dangerous villains I have ever encountered. He is unpredictable and therefore even more dangerous. You have only encountered him briefly, but beware, you will be in Gotham, his home turf. If something goes terribly wrong, you contact me."  
Aqualad nodded, but Artemis seemed sceptical, crossing her arms tightly. "Isn't that a job for the police?" Robin could understand her argument, but seriously, questioning Batman? Not her smartest move, especially not when the Joker was involved.

Batman shook his head. "No. The police is unequipped for capturing the Joker. He managed to escape too many times, not to mention that half the GCPD is corrupt. Innocent lives are at stake. Protecting the children is your priority. Do you understand me?"

The team nodded and Artemis lowered her head. "Good. Go pack your things, you will be staying at Wayne Manor from now on. Robin, stay with me. We have a lot to discuss." _Now that's the understatement of the year._ The chance of the team discovering their secret identities was too great with them staying at the Manor! What was Batman thinking?!

Robin waited until everyone exited the room, before turning to Batman and yelling, "What the heck?!"  
The older man rubbed his temples. "I received a letter this morning, from the Joker." He pulled a paper out of his utility belt. "Here." Dick took the letter and opened it.

_My dear Brucy,_  
_I hope you don't mind sharing your precious money, do you?_  
_Well, it honestly doesn't matter whether you do or not, because I will just take it anyw- No! I have an idea!! Hahaha! Why won't you just give me the money?_  
_Money, money, money, must be funny, it's a rich men's world._  
_Yes, yes, Brucy, I know. Why would you give me your money, you have no reason, yada, yada, yada. Easy: I will just kidn- no, that's a bad word, I don't like bad words. Bad words are bad. Hehe, you get it? I will... hang out with your sons for some time, that sounds better, doesn't it? Well, bye bye. See you soon._  
_In love, the Joker._  
_Hahahahahaha! *couch*_  
_Sorry, I caught a cold somewhere._

Robin raised his eyebrows. "Brucy?"  
"Shut it, Dick."  
Robin chuckled and folded the paper. "Whatever. I guess we are not going to Germany then?"  
"Actually, I do have to go to Germany, even if I don't like leaving you alone at times like this, but it is necessary. I know you don't like this, but I am not discussing this with you.  
I do not need to tell you to keep your identities a sectret, do I?"  
Robin rolled his eyes. "I understand, but we can take care of ourselves. We don't need the team to protect us!" So not feeling the aster. They were bats, for God's sake, they didn't need babysitters.

Batman scowled. "This is not up for debate, not after what happened to Jason. We just got him back and I will not lose another son, do you understand?" Robin flinched slightly. Jason's death and the circumstances of his resurrection were still fresh in his mind. Jason had finally come back to the Manor, but his relationship with Bruce (with all of them) was still rocky. "Whatever. This time, no one will die." Bruce captured Dick's eyes with his. "Make sure of that."  
______________________________

**A/N: Soo, the first chapter. What do you think?**


	3. Chapter one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team arrives and the brothers have no idea how to act civil around each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm am probably gonna post one chapter every day (Unless I forget, then shame on me).

Dick and his brothers were sitting around the breakfast table, all in a gloomy mood. They didn't need protection, they were very much able to defend themselves.

"When will they arrive?" grumbled Jason, annoyance tinging his words as he played with his food. The boy was sitting crossed-legged on his chair, pouting slightly. Dick shrugged. "One to two hours. Wally had trouble at home, something about a blue kangaroo, I think." Tim looked questioningly at his older brother. "A blue kangaroo?" Dick shrugged again, chewing on his fork. "Don't ask me." 

Damian stabbed his eggs so hard, he almost broke the plate. "I can take care of myself. I do not need some _teenagers_ to babysit me. I am an al Ghul and the blood son of Batman!"   
Jason snort dryly. "The arrogant brat is not wrong, though. Why does Bruce insist on the team staying over?"

Dick rubbed his temples and groaned. It was only morning and his brothers were already giving him a headache. "You know damn well why Bruce insists on having them here." Jason glared at his plate, a dark look crossing his face. Dick closed his eyes in regret. Bringing up Jason's death was a bad idea. 

Damian continued attacking his scrambled eggs and Dick leaned back in his seat. They continued to eat in silence.  
Then Damian, with no warning whatsoever, grabbed his plate and threw it right in Jason's face. 

Dick groaned and let his head fall into his hands, his temples throbbing. _Great, just great._ Jason took a moment to realise what'd just happened and then he slowly stood up, glaring daggers at Damian. "You little brat! You're so dead!" Damian scoffed, a challenging flare in his eyes, and ran out of the kitchen, Jason hot on his heels. Tim didn't even look up from his bacon. "Idiots," he muttered. Dick silently agreed. 

He sighed and ran after his brothers, trying to stop Jason from killing Damian and vice versa. He heard a loud crash from Damian's room. He charged through the door and groaned again at the sight that greeted him. He seemed to be groaning a lot lately.

Jason was on top of Damian, who had thrown a glass off his nightstand, whilst struggling against his older brother. Dick grabbed Jason and pulled him off of the junior-assassin and out of the younger boy's room. He grasped him by the collar and pushed the younger boy against the wall. 

"Get off me, Dickhead!" Dick pressed his arm against Jason's chest harder, an annoyed scowl on his face. "Only if you stop attacking Dami." Jason glared at him and a movement behind Dick cought his attention. Damian had come out of his room and stuck his tongue out at Jason, then he turned around and ran down the corridor. "You little shit!" yelled Jason, headbutting Dick, and chasing after Damian. 

Dick growled in exasperation and rested his head against the wall. There was no use in trying to stop Jason. Damian just had to look after himself. He headed back to the kitchen, where Tim was waiting for him. "Let me guess, you couldn't do a thing." Dick rolled his eyes. "Yeah." His younger bother pointed at the forming bump on his forehead. "You might wanna put some ice on that." 

Two hours later, in which Damian had received a bloody nose and Jason a black eye, the doorbell rung. 

_1/2 hour earlier with the team:_

Everybody was seated in the Bio-Ship, ready to go. They had waited hours for Wally to arrive, but the speedster was late as usual.

Wally had solved his blue kangaroo problem and Miss Martian started the ship. Superboy raised his eyebrows at Wally. "So, a blue kangaroo?" Wally blushed. "It wasn't my fault! I didn't open the portal." Superboy frowned and glanced at the red-head from where he was seated in the alien ship. "Portal?"   
"Yes, the kangaroo was from another earth." Conner blinked. "Oh, okay, whatever. So, how do you think this mission will go?" 

Next to Wally, Artemis was checking her bow. "Well, we go up against the Joker, one of the most evil villains in Gotham. Every other villain we have faced so far was at least kind of sane, but the Joker is mad. He is unpredictable. We have to be very cautious."   
Miss Martian nodded. "And what about the boys? This is our first protection mission. Our priority has always been the bad guys, not civilians. We have to protect them, even if it means letting the Joker get away."   
Aqualad sighed and lowered his head. "Let's just hope we'll be able to do both, capture the Joker and protect the civilians."   
"If anything happens to them, I will personally rip the Joker apart," growled Artemis, her knuckles turning white around her bow.  
Wally saw Aqualad arch an eyebrow, sending a questioning look at the archer.  
"I know Richard," she explained.  
"Who?"  
Artemis face-palmed. "Dick Grayson. His real name is Richard Grayson. He goes to my school. He is a bit weird, but who isn't?" Aqualad nodded. "Does he know who you really are?"   
"No... but I guess he's about to find out." A look of horror crossed her face and Wally stifled his snickers. This was gonna be so good. Dick's acting skills were damn awesome.

Just then, Wayne Manor came into view and Wally heard the others gasp. "Okay, not bragging about a house like that is hard," muttered Artemis in awe. The mansion was huge. It was hard to believe that only six people lived in there, even though Wally had been here before. 

Megan cloaked the Bio-Ship and landed it next to the Manor. Aqualad stood up and turned to his teammates. "Remember, the brothers are our priority. We don't want the Joker to suspect anything, so we go in civis, but keep your weapons close." A chorus of "yes's" and "okay's" was heard as the team exited the ship. They walked up to the door and rang the bell. 

A crash sounded from inside followed by more noise. "Do they have a pet?" asked Artemis and Wally shrugged. Not that he knew of. That had probably been Jason destroying something. Wally was cautious around the boy. Jason's been through a lot, but going on a killing spree is not justifiable in any way. 

The door opened without a sound. In front of them stood a boy with raven black hair and crystal blue eyes, looking slightly annoyed by something. "Uh, how can I help you?" Wally bit his lip to suppress a chuckle.   
Aqualad seemed confused, explaining, "We were send by Batman to protect you from the Joker. Hasn't Mr. Wayne told you?" Dick's eyes grew wide in mock surprise and admiration. "You're the Young Justice. But you are not wearing yo-" His eyes landed on Artemis. "Artemis?!"   
She grinned sheepishly and it was becoming really hard for Wally not to burst out laughing. Dick should try professional acting sometime.   
"Yeah... hi," she muttered. 

Kaldur offered Dick his hand, who shook it and grinned brightly. "I'm Dick Grayson. Welcome to Wayne Manor." Artemis cleared her throat. "You can't tell anyone our identities." Dick nodded. "Of course not. Don't worry. My brothers won't either, they are in the kitchen... I think." He opened the door entirely and let the team enter as another crash sounded from somewhere down the hall.

"Do you have a dog?" asked Artemis, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Dick groaned. "Sort of. JASON, stop doing whatever you're doing!" There was the sound of wood breaking and then a voice yelling back, "Stop blaming me, that was the Demon Spawn!" Dick face-palmed and smiled apologetically at the team. "My brothers are cleaning the kitchen... hopefully." He muttered the last part under his breath and led the team towards the kitchen. 

Once they entered, the teenagers froze at the sight in front of them. Three boys were sitting at the table, the youngest one was glaring at it, ignoring his brothers and occasionally stabbing a fork into the wood. He seemed distant and the team eyed him warily. He was more than just strange. He looked like a normal child, but Wally could understand the team's suspicion (after all, he knew that that kid had no trouble causing serious harm with that fork).  
The boy next to him was older, but still young. He was yelling at the eldest boy, who was yelling right back at him. 

"Hey!" screamed Dick. The three stopped doing what they were doing at once and stared at him. Sometimes Wally forgot just how commanding his best friend could be. 

"Guys, this is the Young Justice team." The boys waved, then turned back to screaming at each other. Dick frowned and turned his attention back to the team. "You know what, we will do the introductions tomorrow. I bet you are tired after the ride here. Should I show you to your rooms?" Aqualad nodded. "That would be nice."   
Wally glanced one last time at the still yelling Wayne brothers and followed Dick upstairs. 

Aqualad awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "So, are your brothers always so..."   
"Stupid, idiotic, dumb, without a brain?" Kaldur snort quietly. "I wanted to say "loud"."   
Dick shrugged and they rounded another corner. Even though Wally had been here countless of times, he still got lost occasionally. 

"That's what I have to deal with every day," laughed Dick, casually shrugging his shoulders. "It's getting late. If you need something, just ask, I will be in the second room down the corridor. Your rooms are right here." He pointed at five rooms right next to his own.  
"Thanks," smiled Aqualad and Dick smiled. "Tomorrow, I will fully introduce you to my brothers. Good night." He turned around and left the heroes to decide for themselves who should sleep in which room.  
___________________________

**A/N: So, what do you think?**


	4. Chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers fight and care

Aqualad woke up in a strange room. It took him a second to remember where he was. Wayne Manor, right.   
He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed slowly, looking at the clock on the wall. The continuous _tick, tick_ had annoyed him to no end and he hadn't been able to sleep much because of it. 

It was six in the morning and Aqualad groaned. The Wayne brothers wouldn't be up at a time like that, it was a habit the team had developed during their time together. Maybe they had time debriefing and thinking up a plan. 

He looked around the room and found a door that led to the bathroom. He quickly showered and dressed in his civilian clothes, then he heard a knock on the door. To his surprise, he saw the youngest Wayne brother standing with crossed arms. Aqualad couldn't remember weather he was Tim or Damian. 

"Breakfast is in twenty minutes. Tell the others." Then he slammed the door in Aqualad's face and left. "Friendly," murmured Kaldur.

The team; a very grumpy Artemis, an excited Megan, a hungry Wally, a uninterested Conner and a very tired Kaldur, reached the kitchen half an hour later. They hadn't been able to find their way back from their rooms. They were greeted with the smell of bacon and eggs.

Kaldur's stomach growled. Artemis seemed to be just as hungry. "Why are you up so early?" She questioned, hiding a yawn.   
Jason, who was fighting with Dick over a butter knife, replied, "It's a habit." Turning to the oldest, he growled, "give me the fucking knife, Fuckface!"

He suddenly punshed Dick in the nose, who let go of the knife and glared at his younger brother, holding his bleeding face. Kaldur gasped and moved forward, but Wally held him back. 

He cleared his throat. "Eh, is it normal for you to punch each other in the face?" Damian, who once again was fiddling with a fork, looked up. "Yes. Constand kidnappings have heightened our pain tolerance and Jason's used to dealing with his problems with his fists."   
"Oh, okay..." Tim, who stood by the stove, muttered, ignoring the turmoil, "So, who wants bacon? Oh, and Dick, get the blood off your nose, I'm not cleaning the kitchen again." 

During breakfast, the Young Justice team was introduced to the boys. "The youngest is Damian Wayne, the hot head over there is Jason Todd and this is Tim Drake." Dick ruffled Tim's hair, who looked slightly uncomfortable. 

"Well, as you probably know, I'm Aqualad, but call me Kaldur," introduced the Atlantean. "This is Megan and Superboy's name is Conner Kent. Then there is Artemis-" he glanced at Dick, "as some of you already know. Kid Klash is Wally West, who eats more than any elephant-"   
"Hey!"   
"Robin couldn't come with us, he and Batman are on a mission in Germany." 

He frowned at Jason, who snort and jabbed Dick between the ribs with his elbow. Dick groaned and rubbed the sore spot. "Ouch." Damian face-palmed and glared at Jason. "Do you always have to act like an insolant brat?"   
"Shut up, Demon Spawn!"   
"Or what?!"   
Tim slammed his fists on the table. "Can we eat now?!" 

Damian and Jason glared at him. "We don't want your stupid food!" Dick groaned as his brothers went into another round of screaming and yelling. "Would you shut up!" He yelled, steam coming out if his ears (not literally, of course).   
"And who made you leader?" Challenged Jason, raising his eyebrows.   
"I am the oldest."   
"But I'm the best fighter!"  
"And I'm the smartest!"  
"You are twelve, Tim!"  
"But my brain is twice the size of yours!"  
"And I am the blood son!"  
"I'm the best fighter, not you!"

The team watched them like a tennis match.   
"You think it's always like that?" Whispered Artemis, as Jason tried to strangle Damian, who threw his plate at him. "Even we don't fight this much." 

In the end, Jason had a full plate of eggs in his hair, Damian had a broken nose, Tim was hiding under the table and Dick looked ready to explode. "CAN WE EAT NOW?!" 

No one said much afterwards and they ate in an awkward silance.   
"So," muttered Aqualad, nervously scratching his neck. "What should we do now?"   
The brothers grinned at each other. It seemed like their screaming match was already forgotten.   
"Gym," they said simultaneously.   
A smile crept across Kaldur's face. "You got your own gym?" Dick nodded. "And a swimming pool, a game room, a dungeon-" Megan gasped. "You have a dungeon?"   
"Yes."   
"No, we don't have a dungeon," groaned Tim. "Dick just likes to refer to the basement as a dungeon. Just ignore him, we all do." Wally laughed and Dick pouted. "But it looks like a dungeon!" Jason rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Can we go to the gym now? I wanna kick Grayson's but." Dick snort. "You can try."

The gym was huge. There were all kinds of weapons on the wall and a lot of gymnastic stuff. There was a trapeze and robots. Why where there robots?  
"What are the robots for?" Questioned Kaldur.   
Damian grinned dangerously. "We sadly are not allowed to maim each other." Artemis eyed the weapons warily. "Swords? Axes? Bõ-staffs?"   
Dick pursed his lips and shrugged sheepishly. "Bruce insisted that we learn how to defend ourselves." Artemis raised her eyebrows. "All of that for self-defence?" Dick seemed like he didn't know what to say. 

"And the trapeze?"   
A sad look crossed Dick's face. "I- uhm..." Jason laid a hand on Dick's shoulder, a guarded look in his eyes. _Did they just flash green?_ Kaldur couldn't place a finger on it, but there was something going on with the second oldest brother. Something about Jason seemed... _different_. 

"Dick's a fucking wonder up there."   
Wally grinned, something in his eyes Kaldur couldn't name. "Show us," he demanded. Dick still seemed hesitant. "I'm not that good." Jason hit him across the head. "Yeah, right, and the Replacement his not a wussy." Dick sighed and looked up to the trapeze. "Fine." 

Dick was undoubtedly amazing. Even Wally, who knew about Dick's athletic backstory, couldn't close his mouth, as Dick flew threw the air, doing flips and stuff no one could even name and just looking amazing. 

Dick felt free. There was always the reminder of his parents' death when he was up there, but the feeling of the wind through his hair and the freedom of weightlessness was worth it. 

Megan smiled. "He is a natural." Jason nodded, watching his brother. "Yeah. He is."

As Dick finally joined the others on the ground again, Tim high-fived him. "That was awesome!" Dick blushed and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. "Thanks."   
"Where did you learn to do that?" Asked Kaldur, looking at him curiously. "Before Bruce took me in, I was traveling with a circus. My parents and I were trapeze artists." Dick's eyes watered at the mention of his parents. Kaldur glanced at his teammates, but they seemed at a loss, too.   
Tim patted Dick's back. "Well," the twelve-year-old said, "I don't know about you, but I'd like to spar." 

Kaldur literally felt the sadness dissapear from the brothers.   
"Sure. Didn't Jason say that he wanted to fight Dick?"   
Jason smirked. "Yep. You accept the challenge, Circus Freak?"   
Dick grabbed a bõ-staff from the wall, a grin stretching across his face, the sadness from before completely gone. "Get ready to lose, Zombie."   
Jason narrowed his eyes at the nickname. "You didn't," he growled, snatching a knife from the wall. Damian snort. "He did."   
"You're dead, Grayson!" He threw the knife at Dick, who was laughing his head off and swiftly ducked, successfully avoiding being impaled. 

Megan took a sharp intake of breath. "If they continue like that, we don't have to worry about the Joker, they will've killed each other before he even gets a chance to kidnap anyone."   
Kaldur nodded. "Is it me or are they acting strange?"  
"I don't know," shrugged Megan. "Do humans usually act like this?" she asked Artemis.  
"No. Normal people don't break their brothers' noses or throw knives at them," she deadpanned.  
So there was something fishy about them. Kaldur wondered whether it would be best to just ask the brothers or if they should keep it to themselves.   
"Wait, where are they?" asked Connor, searching the room. 

The team looked around, slightly panicked. The Wayne brothers were gone. How in his King's name could four boys sneak past a team of highly trained heroes and a Kryptonian? Kaldur was seriously beginning to lose his mind. Only one day in and they had already trouble keeping the boys from each other's throat.

They heard screaming from above and raced up the stairs. Dick and Jason were wrestling, while Damian and Tim tried to separate them. "You son of a bitch, I swear I'll kill you!" cried Jason, punching his older brother in the face. Dick grabbed Jason's hand as he took another swing and pulled it back, sending Jason flying. Before the boy could jump back up, Damian and Tim grabbed his arms and legs, pinning him to the ground. "Calm down or we'll knock you out!" Jason glared at Tim, still raging. "Don't you dare, you little brat. You ar-" Tim punched him in the temple, successfully knocking him out cold. "Finally," grumbled Dick, wiping the blood off his face. "So, who wants to watch a movie?" 

Kaldur looked at him incredulously. Beating each other up can't be that normal for them!   
Artemis seemed just as confused.  
"What about Jason?" She asked.  
"What about him?"   
Artemis looked at Kaldur for help and he ponted at the knocked out boy. "I think what she means is whether you just want to leave him here, or..." 

Damian frowned and looked between Jason and Kaldur. "What else should we do? This happens every day. He will wake up in a few hours, be pissed at first, but we'll just ignore him- like always- and then everything starts all over again." Kaldur was at a loss for words and so was everyone else. 

Dick jumped up and down, impatiently waiting for the others to follow him. "So what movie should we watch?" He repeated.   
"Well, I found a really _interesting_ one," grinned Tim, taking a movie out of a box. "Batman & Robin."   
Wally burst out laughing. "Wait, there's a movie about B. and Rob?!" Tim nodded, trying not to grin at Dick's red face. Artemis chuckled. "Well, I'd like to watch it." Dick groaned and his his face behind his arms. "Do we have to?" Damian smiled innocently. "Why not? Do you have a problem with that?" Dick glared at him. "No, not at all," he growled through gritted teeth. This was going to be a long night.  
______________________________

**A/N: So, I hope you liked it and it wasn't too boring. Shots gonna hit the fan soon.**


	5. Chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the peace while it lasts.

The team hadn't expected the four brothers to argue over every little film detail. It was actually quite entertaining.

"That's a light blue!"   
"No! It's turquoise!"   
"Are you blind?! That's green!"  
Kaldur once tried to break up the fight, but only received four different kind of glares.   
"A bõ-staff would be a better weapon!"  
"No, a sword would be much more affective!"  
"Are you dumb? He should use a gun, duh!"  
"Don't talk about things you don't understand, Demon Spawn!"  
"I have more experience than all of you together!"  
"You are just a little brat!"  
"Am not, Zombie Boy!"  
"Are, too!"  
"Am not!"  
And this went on throughout the whole movie. 

After the movie, no one wanted to go to bed just yet, so Megan suggested to play truth or dare. Since it was already late at night and they didn't want to wake anyone in the neighbourhood, they decided that they would play without dare, because that would defenitifly end in utter chaos. 

"So, we just ask each other questions?"   
Wally nodded. "And no skipping." Everyone agreed. 

"Kaldur," began Dick, "do you have gills?" Everybody burst out laughing and Aqualad blushed a scarlet red. What kind of question was that?! "Yes, I do," he muttered, his face resting in his hands.

"Damian, which one of your brothers is the most annoying?" He didn't know why he asked a question that would certainly lead to more fighting.   
Damian smirked. "Well, Jason is the asshole, Dick's the spoilsport and Tim the nerd. All of them are annoying." Before anyone could stop them, Dick, Jason and Tim tried to jump on top of their brother, but Damian did a backflip over Tim's head and the boys crashed into each other, rolling over the floor, cussing and with flailing limps.   
So, Damian could do backflips, huh... 

The young boy was grinning victorious, while the others tried to disentangle themselves. "I swear, if I get my hands on you..." threatened Jason, but Damian only snort. "Then what? Father forbid you to kill anyone."   
Wait, what?! Kaldur could understand why they had to learn how to defend themselves, after all, this was Gotham, but things just got more and more suspicious.

Jason grumbled something under his breath and Damian rolled his eyes. "Wally, which one of the Young Justice team is the most reckless?" Wally made a thinking face, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth.   
"Well, Conner or Robin. Our bird tends to overestimate himself."   
To the teams confusion, Jason, Tim and Damian burst out laughing, while Dick groaned and hid his burning face in his hands. Wally shrugged, ignoring the strange behaviour of the brothers. Wally was acting strange, too. Kaldur couldn't exactly say what it was, but something was going on.

"Well, Jason. Which Gotham villain do you dislike the most?" Jason stiffed and Wally instantly regretted his question. Damn it, he really couldn't keep his mouth shut. "The Joker," answered Jason through gritted teeth. "I hate the Joker." There was a moment of silence, before Jason turned to Tim. 

"What is your favorite stuffed animal's name?" Tim lunged at Jason, stumbling over Dick in the process. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!"   
"Oops, I forgot," grinned Jason, sarcasm dripping from every word.   
Dick quickly locked his arms around Tim to keep him back.   
"Just pick the next one, Tim." The coffee addicted teen glared at Jason, but relented. 

"Fine. Conner, what's your favorite colour?" Jason groaned. "Boring!"   
Conner ignored the comment and shrugged nonchalantly. "Black, I guess." 

He looked at Dick. "Why did you leave the circus?" Conner hadn't meant to, but he'd hit a nerve. No one spoke and the tension grew with every passing second. Everyone looked warily at Dick, who had a guarded look on his face. "Sorry," muttered Conner, realising that he's said something wrong. Without saying a word, Dick stood up and left. The Kryptonian was hit with a strong sense of guilt, even if he didn't know what he'd done wrong. "I didn't mean to-"   
"It's late," said Tim, daring anyone to contradict. "We should go to bed."   
___  
Artemis was having trouble sleeping, her thoughts keeping her awake. She looked at the clock. 01:35 am. She groaned and turned in the bed, closing her eyes. A lot had happened today, not just Dick and Jason trying to kill each other. 

The brothers seemed reckless and violent, but they were actually kind of funny and nice to be around. Damian was, all the arrogance and backflips put aside, a really cute kid, trying to keep up with his older brothers.

She couldn't really assess Tim just yet, the boy was quieter than the others. All she knew was that he drank a lot of coffee, way too much for a twelve year old. 

Then there was Jason. He seemed to be the most aggressive one, but Artemis suspected that he was actually kinda self-conscious. 

Dick was obviously trying to keep some kind of order, though he was having a hard time keeping his siblings in check. But there was something bothering her. Dick was acting different from the way he usually behaved in school. There, he was always on the side lines, not getting into trouble and staying calm and collected. Here, with his brothers, he was just as chaotic as them, despite his attempts to appear like the grown up.

Another thought keeping her awake was her boyfriend. Wally had been acting strange as well. Instead of being surprised and overwhelmed by the brothers' violent behaviour, like the rest of them, it seemed he was actually kind of expecting it. She knew that Wally wouldn't lie to her, but there was something off about him. Maybe he was just nervous about the mission. 

The whole situation had them all on edge. Gotham was unknown territory, not to her of course, but to the others, and it's not like she knew Gotham like Robin, Batman and all the other vigilantes did. Batman would never allow her to patrol here, though Artemis was wondering why there were so many bats. Batgirl, Batwoman, Red Robin and all the others. Robin bad never mentioned them and she hadn't asked.

With a groan, she pulled the blankets closer around her. There was no use thinking about that now. Her thoughts were all mixed up and it was getting hard to even remember what she had been thinking about.

As she was about to fall asleep, hushed voices outside her room woke her up again. With a deep growl, she slowly got out of the bed, her naked feet were cold against the warm ground, and reached for her bow. She slung her quiver over her shoulder and silently opened the door, peeking into the dark hallway. The others were coming out of their rooms, too, weapons drawn.

"Did you guys hear something?" She whispered, her heart pounding in her chest. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but there had been a sound nearby. Kaldur pointed to his left. "Somewhere down there." Artemis notched an arrow, slowly creeping forward. 

She paused as she heard hasty footsteps coming their way. She raised her bow, but lowered it once she saw Jason walking towards them. "Jason, what-" But he ignored Artemis and speed-walked past the team. Megan tried to grab his arm, but he dodged and continued on his way, still not talking to them. The team followed, very confused. What was going on? Jason stopped in front of a room, Dick's room. He reached for the doorknob, but hesitated. He looked at the heroes. "Stay here." Then he dissapeared inside the room. 

Megan raised two questioning eyebrows. "Does that mean we're not under attack?" Artemis shook her head, putting the arrow back into the quiver. "Guess not, but what is happening?"   
"Dick has a nightmare again," muttered a tired voice from behind them. Artemis spun around and came face to face with Tim Drake. The young boy rubbed his eyes and yawned. 

"Don't worry, it's a daily occurrence here. I guess Dick has been reminded of his parents' death today."   
"His parents died?" gasped Megan, looking close to tears. Artemis felt not much better.  
Tim nodded sadly. "Yes. It's not really my place to tell you, but they were killed when he was little. After that, he left the circus and Bruce took him in."   
The team looked at each other with sad expressions. They all knew what a loss like that felt like. "They were killed?" asked Megan almost hesitantly. 

Tim nodded again and sighed. "Yes. Jason's parents are dead, too. We don't really talk about Damian's mother..." Artemis noted how he left out anything about his own parents. "Well, since Jason is taking care of Dick, I'm gonna go get some more sleep. You should do the same." He turned around and shambled back to his room. 

Artemis glanced at Kaldur, who seemed hesitant to just leave Jason and Dick.  
"Jason said we shouldn't go inside. I guess it's for the best if we just follow Tim's example and go back to sleep," muttered Wally, glancing sadly at Dick's room. 

He'd love to help Dick, but he knew that there was nothing he could do. He couldn't risk going in there without the others asking questions. It hurt, knowing he was powerless to help his best friend.

Artemis agreed and suppressed a yawn. "Yeah, we should be rested if the Joker attacks."   
___

They ate breakfast in an awkward silence. No one really knew what to say, even Wally was quiet. He kept glancing at Dick, who looked awfully tired. His hair covered his eyes and his head hung loose. "So," Jason finally broke the silence, "what should we do today?"   
"Why doesn't everybody just do what they want to do? I'll go to the gym, who wants to tag along?" Offered Damian, not really caring who answered. Jason, Artemis and Conner raised their hands. "Good." The youngest Wayne brother stood up and left without another word, expecting the three teens to follow him.   
"Do you have a Wii?" Questioned Wally suddenly, looked at Dick. He nodded. "Sure, I'll show you. We have four controllers, so two other people can join."  
"What is a Wii?" asked Miss Martian shyly. 

She sometimes felt ashamed for not knowing things that seemed so obvious to others. Wally gasped. "Oh my god! You've never played Mario Cart or any other Wii game?" Megan shook her head and looked at the ground. Wally grabbed her hand in a friendly way. "Then it's time we show you the best part of earth. Mario Cart!" She chuckled. "Okay. But we still need one more player, right?"   
"I'll come," said Tim, eating his last eggs. "I need to finally beat Dick." The older brother snort. "Just like Jason beat me yesterday?" Tim laughed and shook his head, grinning.   
"His face was hilarious when you called him a Zombie."

Megan frowned. She didn't understand why they had called him Zombie and why Jason was so furious afterwards. Was that another earth thing? "Why did you call him a Zombie in the first place?" Dick and Tim glanced at each other and Megan got the feeling that they were hiding something. She knew that she could just read their thoughts, but there was no guarantee that, whatever they were not telling them, was endangering anyone.

"It's just a nickname," shrugged Dick. "Jason often overreacts. He has a short temper." Then he turned to Kaldur, eager to change the topic. "What about you?"   
"You said you had a swimming pool?" Dick grinned. "Yep. It's huge. I'll show you the way. Tim," he said, adressing the young boy, "you can start playing, I'll be there in a minute." Tim nodded. "Sure."   
____

In the evening, everybody met in the living room again. "I'm hungry," whined Wally, flopping down on the couch. Dick laughed. "I can cook us som-"   
"No!"   
Wally jumped at Jason's sudden outburst. "You will not cook again, ever! Not after the Christmas fiasco!" Tim and Damian nodded their heads wildly. "We will never let you near the oven again!" Megan frowned. "What is the 'Christmas fiasco'?" Tim threw his arms in the air, explaining, "Two years ago on Christmas, Bruce and Alfred couldn't come home, so we were alone and Dick had the great idea to cook us something. In the end, the oven was burning, and the table stood in flames, the microwave exploded and everything was covered in spices. We were grounded for a month," he said, jutting out his lower lip in a pout. "And we didn't even do anything! It was all Dick's fault!" 

Everyone laughed at Dick's red face. "Well," chuckled Artemis, "I think we should just order pizza."   
Jason jumped up and threw a fist in the air. "Yes! Great idea. I'll get the phone and change into a T-shirt, it's hot in here, almost as hot as me." Then he frowned. "Nah, impossible. No one and nothing is hotter than me." And then he was gone. Artemis blinked and arched her eyebrows. "Did he just say..."   
Dick let out a huge sigh. "Welcome to my world. Jason is quite... self-confident." Artemis snort. "Obviously."  
 **_________________________________**  
 **A/N: So, a new chapter. What do you think so far?**


	6. Chapter four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Joker makes his entry.

Sure, there was always trouble with the Wayne brothers, but no one expected a simple pizza delivery to end in two kidnappings, a destroyed living room and unconscious thugs lying in the wooden splinters of what used to be the coffee table. 

The team had had one mission; protect the Wayne brothers, and they had failed miserably. Now, they had a new mission; find two missing teenagers, before Bruce Wayne loses a lot of money and protect the last two brothers from the greedy clutches of the Joker.

_Half an hour earlier:_

Jason was hungry, and a hungry Jason meant stress for everyone in the same house. Not that the team wasn't already stressed out over the whole situation, but they really didn't need some bratty teenager to add to their stress level. Mr. Wayne trusted them with the lives of his sons, and they were up against _the_ Gotham villain, the Clown Prince of Crime himself. 

The constant bickering and yells and fights didn't really help their mood either, so everyone was overly happy and relieved when the doorbell finally rang, announcing a newcomer. **_Pizza time!_**

Jason jumped up and made a sprint towards the door, but was tripped by Tim, who laughed and raced past his brother. Jason scrambled back to his feet and tried to get to Tim before he'd reach the door, but the younger boy had already opened it, and Jason couldn't slow down in time and crashed into his brother, who fell over and they both landed at the feet of the pizza boy. 

The team cringed. That looked painful. "Ouch," mumbled Tim, as he finally managed to untangle himself from Jason and stand up. Jason came back to his feet as well and shoved his brother back into the house. "You don't even have money to pay him, Replacement! Bruce gave it to me!" Tim crossed his arms and glared at Jason. "Actually, he gave it to Dick, you just stole it from him!"   
"Not true!"  
Tim snort sarcastically. "As if Bruce would give you the money."  
Jason opened and closed his mouth like a fish. "Who cares?! I have the money now, so I pay the pizza boy and get the pizza!" 

Tim groaned, but took a step back and let Jason pay for the food. He was hungry, okay?! He could fight with Jason _after_ he had eaten something. 

He looked apologetically at the pizza boy. The kid was probably a few years older than Dick with unnaturally long hair. He was taking the money from Jason with shaking hands. _Wait, shaking hands?_

Tim's eyes widened and he forcefully pulled Jason away from the boy and the brothers tumbled to the floor once again. Not a second too soon. A gunshot was heard and the pizza boy fell to the ground, a pool of blood forming around him and a bullet in his back.

The team was next to the brothers in an instant and pulled the two boys behind them.   
"Thanks," breathed Jason, staring in shock at the blood on his shirt. "That shirt was new," he muttered, frowning slightly.

Truth to be told, everyone expected the Joker to sneak into the Manor at night and try to kidnap the boys without attracting too much attention, but the villain surprised them once again. The Joker must have known the Young Justice was there, because he brought two dozen goons with him, who were now coming through the open door, the Joker nowhere in sight.   
"Is there a place you can hide?" Yelled Kaldur at the boys, trying to hold off a guy who was attacking him with a knife. Jason glanced at Tim and nodded. "Yes."  
"Then go!" Jason clenched his fists. He wanted to fight so badly, but he wasn't Red Hood at the moment, he was Jason Todd, just a rich kid. He grabbed Tim's hand and shoved him towards his other brothers, out of the hallway and through the living room, where Tim grabbed a hidden knife from under the couch. 

"What?" He asked innocently at Dick's what-about-the-'no-weapons-in-the-living-room'-rule glare. Dick rolled his eyes and urged his brothers to follow him. "Uh, Dick. We are going in the wrong direction. The entrance to the Batcave is that way," whispered Tim, pointing to his right. 

"We are not going to the Batcave," stated Dick, leading his brothers through the endless hallways of their home. "The Joker wasn't with his goons, so he is either somewhere else in the house, or he is waiting outside to observe. Since the alarm didn't go off, it's save to say that he didn't break in, which leaves only one option."   
"He is somewhere outside," finished Jason his thoughts.

Jason was longing for his guns. He wanted to see that deranged clown's face twist in pain and terror, before he but a bullet between his eyes. Joker deserved to die, it was as easy as that. He got why Bruce didn't kill him, his 'golden rule' and all that crap, but Jason had no qualms about disobeying B. and just shoot the guy himself. Hell, he'd pay anyone who tried to kill the psychopath. But, for now, he was fine with putting him in Arkham. He could always pay off a guard to look the other way for a few minutes. Jason knew first hand that those assholes in Arkham would allow their inmates anything for the right price. 

"We gonna catch the bastard?" He growled and Dick nodded. He wanted that sick bastard behind bars just as much as Jason wanted him dead.   
Dick'd never told anyone, but his encounters with a lot of the Gotham villains had left ugly marks all over his body. The villains in Gotham were madder than anyone Dick had ever faced, they were unscrupulous, sick and didn't hesitate to kill. 

And they all hated Batman with a passion and what better way to get under the Bat's skin than hurting his sidekick? The Joker had figured that out long ago. Dick absently touched a scar on his biceps.

"You okay?" Asked Tim softly.   
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry."   
"You spaced out there for a minute, you sure you're okay?"   
Dick smiled slightly and a warm feeling spread through his body. Tim was so cute when he was worried for someone. "Yes, Timmy, don't worry. Everything is fine. We've had worse, haven't we?" 

Jason snort. "Yep. I died," he said dryly, opening a door next to Dick. "And I'm not keen on doing it again, so come on, let's catch a crazy clown." 

The door led to the garden of the Manor and thanks to the dark of the night, no one noticed the four boys that crept along the wall.   
"Where should we start looking," whispered Tim, glancing around. "I can't see a damn thing." Dick frowned. Tim was right, they could hardly even see each other, but that also ment the Joker couldn't detect them either. 

Suddenly, they heard a crazy laugh, a laugh they all knew far too well. "I guess we do not need to see anything to find him," muttered Damian, "Let's just follow the imbecile's ridiculous laugh." Dick pulled two knives out of his hoodie and gave one to Damian and one to Jason, then he pulled another one out of his boot. Tim stared at him. "So you can walk around like a fricking arsenal in the living room, but I can't?!" Dick grinned mischivously. "Rules are made to be broken."   
Jason snort. "Who are you and what did you do with my spoilsport brother?"   
Dick pouted. "Don't be so mean, Jason."

Damian cleared his throat, sending a dark glare at the older vigilantes. "Keep your voices down, the Joker is mad, but not deaf." Another laugh rang through the air and the four brothers stopped bickering and grabbed their weapons tighter. "Let's move." 

They followed the sound of laughter easily enough. They hid behind a bush and Dick put a finger on his lips, signalling the others to be quiet. 

They heard voices, a woman and a man, no doubt Harley and her prince. "But Puddin', you promised I coulda have fun with the boy!" whined Harley, her voice skipping through at least three different octaves of annoying. They could hear her pacing around. "I didn't mean one of the Wayne boys, you stupid thing. I meant the Bird Boy," came the annoyed reply of the Joker. 

Dick clenched his fists. They wanted him, they would have to catch him first, and a bird doesn't like to be caged, especially not this bird. "But Puddin'! We ain't even sure if the Bat and his little birdie will show." Jason tried to suppress a snort and mouthed to Dick, _Batman's birdie._ Dick just glared at him and turned his attention back to the couple. He still couldn't see more than a few feet, but Joker and Harley were loud enough for everyone to hear. "If they don't come, then we will just wait until the next time. I am sure the little bird wants to see his Uncle J. again." 

"Not really," muttered Dick. He lightly touched Jason's shoulder and pointed at the villains. His brother nodded and whispered to Damian and Tim, "We need to lure them into the house, so the team can take them down."  
"And how should we do that? We can't just ask them nicely to please follow us," pointed out Tim, keeping his voice low enough not to reach the mad couple. Dick smirked. "I have an idea. Just follow my lead." The four boys slowly crept towards the two infamous villains, who were still oblivious to the heroes surrounding them.   
Dick took a deep breath and slowly walked out into the open. "I heard you were looking for me."


	7. Chapter five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From here on out, things go from bad to worse to worst. Poor Batboys.

The plan was simple. Dick would lure Harley and the Joker inside the house, Jason, Tim and Damian would close the door behind them, so the villains wouldn't be able to escape and the Young Justice, who had hopefully already defeated the goons by then, would catch the Joker, without anyone getting kidnapped, injured or killed. That would be really nice, but of course, something had to go wrong. Thing just can't be simple for once.   
A warning for everyone who has to deal with the Joker: Don't make plans. The Joker will just do something totally unexpected or mad and mess up the whole operation.  
The four rules of Leonard Snart work every time: make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, throw away the plan.

Same thing here, though Jason thought that this plan sucked from the beginning anyway.  
_______

"I heard you were looking for me," said Dick loudly, looking at the madman and his queen challengingly. They seemed startled for a second, but the Joker quickly recovered from his shock and laughed, the crazy laugh that send shivers down everyones spines. "Who do we have here? Richard Grayson, I assume." He mock bowed. "It's an honor to meet you." 

Dick narrowed his eyes. "I have a proposal for you. I'll go with you willingly, without fighting back, but only if you leave my brothers alone." He paused. "And only if you can catch me." 

Jason smirked from his hideout. Dick was fast, like really fast, and he seriously doubted that the Joker would be able to catch him. The mad clown laughed once more, chuckling at Dick, as if he were some cute, little child. "It was stupid of you to come here alone, little boy. What stops me from kidnapping you now and coming back for your brothers?"   
Dick rolled his eyes. "Well, to kidnap me, you still have to catch me first." Joker grinned and turned to Harley. "Get him." 

The blonde laughed crazily and replied, "Sure thing, Puddin'," taking out her baseball bat and charging at Dick full speed.  
Tim snickered quietly. What a stupid move.   
Dick waited as she raised her bat, ready to knock him unconscious and jumped to the side at the last second without a sweat. Harley let out a surprised yelp and ran head first into a tree. Dick had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing as she fell to the ground, knocked out cold. 

"Now that was rude," said a very angry Joker, his wide, red lips pulled into a pout. "Didn't your mother teach you not to let people run into trees?" Dick clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes. "No, and even if she did, I don't think her rule applies to psychos. So, do you accept my deal or not?" 

Joker glanced at the Manor, where he could see the Young Justice taking down the thugs he'd hired. He realised that he didn't have much time before the heroes would have finished them all off and come searching for him. He needed to act fast.  
He snickered madly and grinned at Dick, showing his yellow teeth. "Bad, boy, really bad, Richard. Me not like ultimatums. Hehehe, let's destroy grammar. Like, seriously, how can anyone expect us to remember all that frippery." He sighed deeply and did something the brothers had not expected him to do. He pulled out a gun. 

Dick's eyes widened slightly and Jason mentally face-palmed. "Damn it, we forgot that he has a gun," he muttered, watching the Joker's next moves carefully. The maniac laughed and a chill went down Jason's spine. This just got a whole lot more dangerous. 

"No, I don't accept," sang-sung the Joker, aiming the gun at Dick's head. "But I don't think that you were stupid enough to come here alone, so we're are your brothers?" He looked around, gun still maimed at Dick, hopping from one foot to another. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he sung.

Jason stayed still, glancing at Damian and Tim, who didn't move a muscle, their eyes following the Joker's every movement. Someone had to do something, before this shit show escalated. "Come out!" yelled the Joker, finger hovering over the trigger of the gun. He was not a very patient man. Jason knew that from experience. "Or I'll shoot your brother." 

Dick locked eyes with Jason and slightly shook his head. "If you shoot me," he said, turning his attention back to the maniac in front of him, "you won't get any money." The Joker considered that for a second, then smirked devilishly and lowered the weapon, so it aimed at Dick's shoulder instead, the lust for pain shining in his eyes. 

"I don't have to kill you, I can just inflict a lot of pain on you. That's always more fun, wouldn't you agree? Fun, bun, funny, bunny. Tell me, can you sing?" Dick stiffed and Jason saw the fear in his brother's eyes, who quickly put his poker-face back on. Yeah, they both knew what that sentence meant.

"I guess you'll find out soon enough."  
Jason glanced at at his younger brothers, who were nodding at him. They couldn't let Dick get hurt.   
"Don't hurt him," said Jason, slowly walking towards the Joker, Damian and Tim following behind.   
"Jason," hissed Dick warningly. "What are you doing?" Tim rolled his eyes. "Isn't it obvious? We're saving you from getting shot, idiot." 

A small, sad smiled tugged at Dick's lips. Why did they have to be so loyal?   
"Aww," purred the Joker, his eyes glistening with craziness. "A family reunion. That's so sweet. My old man was a jerk, always cutting away on my face." His smile stretched across his face grotesquely. "Until I cut back."   
"You have what you want, now put down the gun," demanded Dick, moving away from Jason, Tim and Damian.

Whilst the Joker's attention was on Dick, Jason signalled Damian and Tim to go to either side of the Joker, successfully surrounding the villain. "Hey, Joker," said Tim, crossing his arms, glaring dangerously. "You do realise that it's four against one, right? And you can't shoot all of us at the same time. You shoot one, the other three will take you down." They knew that the Joker wouldn't kill them, he needed the money after all. They all had been shot once or twice, they could handle the pain. 

An uneasy feeling spread through Dick as the Joker's smirk didn't waver. "You sure I won't kill you? I could just demand the same amount of money for only three of you." He grinned at the brothers, pointing the gun at one boy, then aiming at the next, keeping them in check.

_Bang!_

Joker pulled the trigger.  
A body fell to the floor, a head hitting the ground with a dull thud.

_Earlier with the team, just after they had send the brothers away:_

Artemis was firing arrow after arrow, injuring but not killing the thugs that were attacking her and her teammates. Luckily, none of them had guns with them, so it was a somewhat fair fight, even though the team was outnumbered, but with their powers, they could hold off several guys at once.

Artemis jumped back as one of them, a big guy with a pig mask, threw a punch at her face. She hit him in the temple with her bow in response. The pig-guy crumbled to the floor, but another one, this one had a horse mask and was swinging a metal bat, took his place. 

She dodged a kick to her stomach and ducked under a swing of the bat. She took an arrow out of her quiver and rammed it into the guy's leg. He let out a pained scream- a really high pitched scream- and Artemis knocked him out with a punch to the face. 

She saw a yellow blur ran past her and smiled gently at the thought of Wally. A kick to her stomach pulled her out of her thoughts, causing her to skid backwards. She cought and glared at the guy who had kicked her. "Hey! I was daydreaming about my boyfriend, you brainless idiot!" She roundhouse-kicked the guy in the face and he stumbled backwards, but quickly regained his balance. 

He pulled out a pocket knife and aimed at her arms, but Artemis blocked it with her bow and kicked the guy right between the legs and he fell to his knees, a high-pitched whining sound escaping his lips. "That's for interrupting my daydream, asshole." Then she successfully knocked him out with a punch to the temple. "And that's because punching people is fun." 

She looked around to see if anyone needed help. Wally was zooming around, throwing punches here and there and just running against people and throwing them to the ground. Miss Martian was probably invisible and goons were falling to the ground without a visible cause. Kaldur was surrounded by unconscious bodys and had a gash on his cheek, but otherwise he seemed fine. Superboy was throwing thugs against the walls. He defenitifly didn't need help. The last goons fell to the floor and didn't stand up again. 

"Is everybody okay?" asked Kaldur, breathing heavily. Artemis nodded. "Yeah. No lethal injuries."   
"Good. Now we just need to find the boys." Suddenly, Megan gasped, stumbling to the side. Conner caught her before she could hit the ground. "What is it?"   
"I don't know," muttered Megan, holding her head. "Something is wrong."

 _Bang_!

Kaldur's body went rigid. "Was that a gun shot?" Everyone could hear the worry in his voice.   
"It came from outside," panicked Artemis, gulping heavily.  
Suddenly, they heard a laugh that chilled them to the core. "The Joker," breathed the archer.

What if he had killed one of the brothers? They looked at each other and sprinted towards the horrible laugh, Wally already out of sight. When they reached a clearing in the woods in front of the Manor, they stopped dead in their tracks. Artemis gasped. Blood. The first thing she smelled was the metallic scent of blood. Her eyes landed on someone on the ground, a pool of the red liquid surrounding them. 

"Oh God," whispered Artemis. This couldn't be happening. "The Joker is gone," whispered a quiet voice. Someone was sitting next to the shot person, applying pressure to the wound, ignoring the blood on their fingers. "And he took them with him. They are gone. Both of them." That's when Artemis noticed that only two Wayne brothers were present, one unconscious and bleeding out, the other one at the verge of tears, trying to save his brother's life. The other two were gone and so was the Joker.  
 **________________________________**  
 **A/N: Dundunduuuuun! Cliffhanger! So, who is bleeding to death? Who was kidnapped? I know I'm evil😈😈😈😈😈**


	8. Chapter six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers really have rotten luck

Damian was seriously freaking out right now. One of his brothers was bleeding to death and the other two were kidnapped by Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime. That imbecile of a person would pay if he hurt Grayson. 

"We need to get him inside!" he instructed, looking at the heroes behind him.   
"Right," muttered Kaldur, taking the lead. "Megan, lift him up with your powers and carry him inside." Miss M. did as she was told and the group hurried to the Manor, laying the injured boy on the kitchen table. 

"Alfred his going to kill us," muttered Damian as he looked at the pool of blood that was slowly forming around Drake. "Can you help him?" Kaldur looked troubled. "I am not sure t-"   
"But I am," said Damian firmly, clenching his fists. They had the medical supplies they needed down in the Batcave. "Father is going to kill me, too," he whispered to himself. Then he looked at the team. "I know how we can save him, but you'll have a lot of questions, which I'll not answer." 

He didn't leave any room for discussion, grasping the other boy's hand. "Don't worry, dumbass. I'm not letting you die." He frowned. "Not because I care, you just still owe me money and Grayson would kill me if I let you perish at the Joker's hand. Todd already did that."  
_______

Somewhere else, in an abondened warehouse (cliché much), Jason was slowly regaining consciousness. There was a dull throbbing in the back of his head. What _the actual fuck happened?_ He felt drowsy and his eyelids were too heavy to open them. He tried to remember, but his memory was fuzzy. They had been outside the Manor, with the Joker and then the gunshot- his eyes snapped open. 

"Tim!" He heard a dry chuckle from beside him. "Took you long enough to wake up." Jason slowly turned his head, the pain in his muscles screaming at him to stop. "Dick? The fuck happened?" 

He took a closer look at his brother. He was strapped to a chair, but other than the worry clearly on his face, he seemed fine. What really confused him were the chains around his wrists and ankles. Dick shrugged, seemingly reading Jason's mind. "No idea why he didn't just use rope? Did you realise he just abandoned Harley? She's still lying somewhere in our garden." 

Jason rolled his eyes and looked down at himself. He realised that he was in the same position as Dickhead, strapped to a chair, chains around his wrists and ankles. "How did we even get here?" He could feel Dick tense next to him. "After that sick son of a b-"   
"Language, young man," smirked Jason, but he quickly shut up as Dick shot him a batglare. "As I was saying, after the Joker shot Tim-" Jason could see how much self control it took for Dick not to break the chair and search for the maniac who had hurt his brother, "We were distracted, so he injected us with some kind of drug. Damian was out of his reach, he is still with Timmy." 

Jason clenched his fists. "I may not be the biggest fan of the Demon Brat, but I know he'll do anything to save the Replacement. Don't worry, they will be fine." Dick seemed to relax slightly. "Well, I guess the drug knocked us out and the Joker took us." Jason nodded grimly. "Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. Can you get out of the chains?" 

Suddenly, someone behind them laughed. "None of you are getting out of these chains, boys. Don't even try." Jason tensed. He would recognize that voice anywhere and everywhere, it was, after all, the last thing he'd heard before he died. The weight of the situation crashed into him like a speeding train. He was in the clutches of his killer. Again. He was with the Joker, bound, weaponless, defenseless... He was going to die again. Fuck, there was no way the Joker would let him survive this, he _knew_ what was coming, but fuck this, Joker still scared him shitless. 

His breath was becoming shorter and he couldn't get his damn heartbeat under control. Fucking shit, he had to get out! Joker was going to die this time, not him, he was not going back in the ground.

"Joker," spat Dick, trying to turn around. The madman walked around the brothers, happy as always. "I hope you enjoyed your little nap, you won't be napping anytime soon, again. Napping... huh, that's a funny word. Napping, tapping, shit whacking." There was a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Imma whack you." 

Jason glared at him, his hands trembling. That bastard had shot Tim, had _tortured_ him and blown him up. He was going to pay. But truth be told, he was also scared out of his wits.   
He couldn't deny the scars left by the manic, on his psyche and body. 

"Why are you so _quiet_ ," whined the Joker, spreading his arms wide and turning in a circle. "Be happy! C'mon! If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it, if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." He clapped his hands like a child, jumping up and down.

Jason mentally face-palmed. "I don't think there is anything to be happy about," he snarled, glaring at his captor. The Joker pouted. "Being with your uncle J. isn't something to be happy about? What did I do to deserve such harsh words?" A tear dribbled down his cheek. 

Dick snort humorlessly. "Let me enlighten you: You held a gun to my face, shot our brother, drugged and kidnapped us, chained us to chairs in a warehouse- which is really cliché, by the way- and now you are going to demand ransom in exchange for our freedom. Are that enough reasons for us not to be happy!?"

No one spoke for a second, until the Joker burst out laughing once again. Something was unsettling Jason, aside from the obvious, and he glanced warily at Dick. The Joker stopped laughing abruptly and turned his attention back to the boys.

"Well, there was a change of plans. Plans, plans, plans! No one likes plans! They never work! It's unfair." Instead of pouting, the Joker smirked and Jason's blood ran cold. There was a feeling of _wrongness_ deep in his bones. The maniac's cold and crazy eyes were glued to Dick and Jason began to wonder if he even realised Jason was in the room. 

"And what are those 'changes'," spat Dick, glaring at the Joker. The man cackled and a shiver ran down Jason's and Dick's spine. The boys glanced at each other. "I have discovered something rather... exiting, you know. I was searching for your wallet-" he said, eyes still on Dick, "and while I was looking in your shirt pocket, I felt something under your shirt, so I looked what it was and guess what I found. A scar, a really familiar scar." He cackled again and Jason frowned as Dick paled rapidly, all color draining from his face. "Do you know what I'm talking about, _Boy Wonder?_ "

**(I thought about stopping here, but someone told me to try and be nice. I guess I'll try)**  
**_________**

"So," muttered Artemis disbelievingly. "Bruce Wayne is Batman." 

After Damian had led the Young Justice to the Batcave, they didn't really have time to process what was going on, as they had to save Tim.   
They had cleaned his wound and Damian was able to get the bullet out of his stomach. They had wrapped his upper body in bandages and were now waiting for him to wake up. The youngest Wayne brother had allowed the team to ask questions and was trying to answer as many as he could without losing his patience.  
"Yes, Bruce Wayne is Batman." _Obviously_.

Wally was lost in thoughts. He was pretty sure that Batman would kill them for finding out his identity. "And Dick is Robin, right?" asked Aqualad, running his hand over his head. Damian nodded again. Kaldur couldn't believe they had been with _Robin_ for the whole time without even noticing it. They were supposed to be heroes, to pay attention and Robin had been right under their noses the whole time!

Conner clenched his fists and punched the table, breaking it in the process. "This just got personal. You mess with one of us, you get all of us."   
Everyone looked at him in shock. "What? He is part of our team." Megan smiled and took his hand. "And we will get him back." 

Damian sighed and glanced at Drake's pale face. "It is not Grayson I'm worried about. It's Todd, with his stupid big mouth. The imbecile couldn't keep his mouth shut even if his life depended on it." He pursed his lips. Of course that was not the only reason. And there would be no use hiding it, right?  
"The Joker killed him once before and getting him to come down from his rampage killing spree was annoying enough." Artemis choked. "Wait, what?"

**(Dick didn't retire, so the others were never Robins. Jason's been Red Hood from the start and Tim Red Robin.)**

Damian sighed and rolled his eyes. "Jason is the Red Hood, as most of you have probably already figured out, and he was killed by the Joker a year ago, resurrected by the Lazarus pit and then tried to make his own crime empire, which he succeeded in and then Grayson convinced him to come back and now we're here."

Artemis shook her head. "This is way too much for me. Jason was _dead_?" Suddenly, Megan jumped up, hitting her hand against her forehead. "Hello, Megan! That explains it! That is the reason he was so angry when Dick- Robin- called him a Zombie." Damian nodded. "Indeed. Any other questions?" 

Wally raised his hand. "This one's actually about you... Dick told me you could fight, but why doesn't Bruce let you go on patrol?"   
"Wait," interrupted Kaldur, eyes narrowing dangerously. "You knew?!" That would also explain why he had been acting so weird lately. He was keeping this whole thing secret!  
Wally shrugged sheepishly. "Well, yeah. Dick forbid me to tell you anything, but yes, I knew."

Damian rolled his eyes again. They were acting like children. If he had been in charge, non of this would have happened. "Father thinks I am too young. It is ridiculous and unnecessary, but it is father's rule. And now we will concentrate on finding Grayson and Todd. I am tired of your questions." 

Damian went to sit in the chair in front of the Bat-computer. "At times like this, I really want to have hacking skills like that fool Drake," he muttered to himself as he searched for any clues to the Joker's whereabouts. After hours of tapping into security cameras and finding nothing, they heard a weak cought from behind them and Damian spun around. "You know, Demon Brat, Bruce will kill you for telling them his secret." 

Damian tutted. "You're awake."   
"Looks like it."  
"You still owe me money, Drake."   
A small smile played on Tim's lips, who was trying to sit up. "Oh really? I don't remember you lending me any." Damian smirked and crossed his arms. "It was two weeks ago. You wanted ice cream but couldn't pay for it, so Grayson forced me to lend you some." Tim frowned. "Well, I guess I do owe you money." 

He looked around. "Wait, where are Dick and Jason?" Damian tensed and so did the team. They glanced at each other and didn't really know what to say. Tim's eyes went wide and he tried to stand up, but winced in pain. Damian pushed him back on the bed.   
"The Joker has them."   
"What?! We need to find them!"   
Damian tried to calm down the raging teen.   
"Yes, I know. I am not as incompetent as the rest of you."   
"Damian, let me up."  
"You can't even stand," deadpanned the younger and kept his hand on Tim's chest. 

Tim was going out of his mind with worry and glared at his brother.   
"Damian-"  
"They will be fine," reassured Artemis, making herself known. "This is Robin we're talking about."  
"Yeah," muttered Tim, "They are strong. They are fine, they have to be."  
Boy was he wrong.   
_______________

A scream echoed threw the abondened warehouse, a scream full of pain, followed by another scream, this one full of rage and worry.  
**___________________________________**  
**A/N: Ok, I knew I said I would be nice, but I just love Cliffhangers! Muhahahaha!!!!😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈**


	9. Chapter seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Dick have a really bad time.

**This is my longest** **chapter** **yet...**

In Dick's words, Jason was so not feeling the aster right now. He hated being chained up. Chained to a chair, chained to the ceiling (really painful btw), or like right now, chained to a wall, his back resting against the cold metal, legs pulled to his chest in an attempt to savor much-needed warmth. He sighed. He had already tried getting out of the chains, but every attempt had failed and left him with sore skin.

One day had passed since he and Dick had been kidnapped and the Joker apparently thought asking Scarecrow to join him seemed like a good idea. Jason's stomach grumbled, reminding him of the lack of food, but his hunger and thirst were nothing compared to his worry for Dick. Sure, Dick was older, but Jason would always see him as his younger brother. It was Dick's childish nature that made him so adorable, and Jason, with his 15 years, was only one year younger than Dick anyway.

Despite all attempts of murder, Jason admired him, had always admired him. The first time he had seen Dick Grayson was when his father had stolen two tickets for the circus and they had seen Dick perform with his parents that night. Jason had envied him, he'd appeared so... free. And then Bruce had taken him in and and the Golden Boy had become his brother (kinda) and when he figured out Dick was Robin, Jason was in seventh heaven. To top it all, he had gotten his own hero persona, Red Hood and had fought besides Batman and Robin... until he didn't, until he'd died.

He clenched his fists as he remembered the previous day's events.

 _The Joker cackled and dread pooled in Jason's stomach as Dick paled rapidly, all color draining from his face. "Do you know what I'm talking about, **Boy Wonder**?_"

 _Jason gasped, heart skipping more than just one beat, and he stared at_ _Dick_ _disbeliebingly_ _. No, no way in hell_ _was_ _this happening. This couldn't be happening! Being kidnapped for being the_ _sons_ _of_ _billionaire_ _Bruce Wayne was one thing, but being kidnapped by the Joker as Batman's partners was a_ _completely_ _different_ _story. Everybody knew_ _how_ _obsessed the maniac was with Batman._

 _Joker's gaze shifted to Jason and he stiffed despite_ _himself_ _. Fuck it, why couldn't he get a grip on his damn fear? "And if I had to guess, I'd say you are Red Hood, ain't that right?" Jason stared at him, waiting for the clown to do **something**_.

 _The_ _Joker chuckled darkly,_ _seemingly_ _thinking_ _this whole situation was absolutely comical. "My, my, how you have_ _grown_ _. I didn't expect to see you again anytime soon. Or at all, to be honest." Suddenly, he leaned_ _forward_ _faster than Jason's eyes could follow and he stared directly into the crazy eyes of_ _his_ _tormentor._

 _"Why aren't you dead?" demanded the Joker to know, his tone so dark and dangerous that Jason had to swallow hard and blink away sudden wetness in his eyes. He felt like he did back then, scared and dangerously_ _reckless_ _. He spit in Joker's_ _face_ _. "None of your goddamn business." And he knew, he **knew** Joker tolerated defiance to a certain point, he knew that by heart, and he also knew he had _ _crossed_ _that line. And he realised his fear had turned to hatred and that he_ _just_ _didn't_ _care. He had cared_ _for_ _his_ _well-being_ _enough, he_ _wanted_ _the Joker dead and if he had to die to get it done, so be it._

 _Joker's usually grinning mouth twisted and he backhanded Jason, hard, and_ _he_ _felt his lip split, a short but sharp pain erupting in his skull. His head was jerked to the side and Jason felt dizzy. He spit out blood lazily and blinked,_ _trying_ _to clear his_ _head_ _. Fuck, that hurt._

 _"Do you remember Daisy?" t_ _he maniac asked out of the blue, caressing Jason's cheek. The boy scowled and turned his head away._  
_"Who?"_  
_"Not who, 'what'. Wait a second, I'll be right back." He_ _disappears_ _somewhere_ _in the dark._

 _"I guess we are in trouble now," he_ _groaned_ _. Dick snort humorlessly and Jason threw a worried glance at him. "Yes,_ _trouble_ _," said_ _the_ _older brother, sounding_ _somewhat_ _bitter, "I'm sorry I blew our cover... You okay? That blow sounded pretty painful." Jason shook his head. "'M fine. Just don't be sorry. The only thing I'm angry about is that_ _you_ _didn't_ _tell me anything about the scar. I mean, a scar in a shape the Joker recognizes? He must have taken his time giving it to you, I'd know."_

 _Regret filled Dick's eyes and Jason_ _immediately_ _felt guilty. Scars were always connected to_ _memories_ _,_ _he_ _knew that better than anyone and he could_ _understand_ _if Dick didn't want to_ _relive_ _those_ _._

 _"Sorry," he_ _apologized_ _, smirking at Dick's shocked face. Jason apologizing, the world was ending. "You don't have to talk about_ _it_ _of you_ _don't want to." A dry chuckle escaped Dick's lips and he sighed, not_ _meeting_ _Jason's_ _eyes._ _"I am doing this since I was nine. It's no wonder I have scars." Jason scowled. "I know that, dumbass, but like I said, if Joker_ _recognized_ _you because of_ _it_ _, then it's not just the_ _usual_ _patrol 'I missed that guy' scar."_ _Rolling_ _his_ _eyes_ _, Dick tugged at his_ _bonds_ _. "_ _What did_ _you_ _expect_ _? That I have never been captured by the Joker_ _before_ _? That you're the only one he hurt? You know how_ _Gotham_ _'s villains are._ _We all_ _have_ _scars, Jason, yours were just cut deeper_ _into_ _your mind than body."_

 _Jason nodded. He got that. It's just been a long time_ _since_ _any Batfam member had actually been held captive by anyone._  
_"Sorry," he muttered._  
_"What for?"_  
_"I've been so fixated on myself and my_ _problems_ _that I forgot this isn't your_ _first_ _Rodeo_ _with_ _that cockroach_ _either_ _."_  
_Dick_ _snickered_ _quietly. "Yeah."_

 _A cruel laugh interrupted the brotherly moment. "How_ _touching_ _," snarled the Joker, stepping_ _back_ _into the dim light. "But I'd like to reintroduce dear Mr. Todd here to my dear old friend Daisy." He pulled a crowbar from behind his back and Jason sucked in a_ _sharp_ _breath_ _._ _He_ _hated_ _crowbars_ _. It's not that he was overly afraid of them or anything and he usually didn't have a problem with using_ _crowbars_ _, but when they were used as a weapon, especially against him, he felt like dying all over again_ _._

 _Dick eyed the weapon_ _carefully_ _and_ _saw_ _dried_ _blood_ _coating_ _the metal._ _"Is that...?" He wasn't able to finish_ _his_ _sentence, but_ _Jason-_ _and sadly the Joker- understood what he ment just_ _fine_ _. The_ _maniac_ _laughed one of his typical shrill laughs and nodded._

 _"Yes, yes, it is. This, Ladies and Gentlemen, minus the Ladies, we're all Gentleman here, after all, is the blood of oneJason Todd, or better known as the Red Hood._ _You_ _know," he said,_ _turning_ _his cold eyes_ _on Jason, "s_ _he really_ _missed_ _you_ _. We both agreed that blood_ _really_ _suits your handsome face and now it will stand in contrast with those white streaks in your hair. How'd you get those, btw? Isn't that great, a real masterpiece! Maybe I_ _should_ _call my crowbar-baby 'Whack-a-bird', what do you think?"_

 _Jason_ _wanted to spit a snarky reply, but Dick beat_ _him_ _to it. "I think that you_ _are_ _a disgusting_ _piece_ _of_ _garbage_ _that better stays away from my brother." Joker_ _laid_ _a_ _hand_ _over his heart in mock hurt and took a sharp breath through his teeth. "My, my, Boy Blunder, have you forgotten everything I taught_ _you_ _about respect?" Jason_ _clenched_ _his fists as Dick shuddered. Joker's teaching methods weren't... pleasant_ _for_ _the_ _student_ _._

 _"Leave him alone, you pale bastard!" he growled, teeth grinding in anger. The Joker groaned in fake annoyance. "Don't tell me I have to teach you_ _the_ _same lessons! Are all of you '_ _Batboys_ _' so_ _disrespectful_ _?" Jason decided to play dumb,_ _furrowing_ _his_ _eyebrows_ _. "What others?" That resulted in a harsh slap to his cheek. Jason tasted blood. Fuck._

 _"Hey!" yelled Dick, but Jason just rolled his_ _eyes_ _._ _He_ _had_ _had_ _worse, far worse. "I mean,"_ _explained_ _the Joker, eyes fixed on Jason, "Red Robin and Batman, or should I say Timmy and_ _Bruc_ _y_ _? Wasn't hard to figure out their identities."_

 _Jason lowered his eyes. The Joker had figured it all out. Who knew what the_ _manic_ _would do_ _with_ _that kind of information? The deranged man cackled. "And_ _what_ _about the last boy? Damian? He's not a Bat?"_

 _Dick glared at him and_ _demontrativly_ _snapped his mouth shut_ _. The Joker just smirked_ _wickedly_ _, pacing around the two. He hugged Dick from behind, who stiffed visibly_ _. "You know, Bird Brain-" Jason_ _scowled_ _at the_ _insult_ , _whilst Dick just kept his eyes on the wall,_ _"I love you all- I love Batman the most of course, but you come right after him. You could say you are my little..._ _ **favorite**_ _._ " _Dick_ _flinched_ _at the word, head snapping around to glare sharply at the Joker. "Shut up!"_ _he spat_ _._

 _Joker giggled_ _uncontrollably_ _and gently_ _kissed_ _Dick on top of his_ _head_ _, who seemed more_ _grossed_ _out than afraid. Noticing Jason's confusion, the Clown Prince of Crime pushed_ _himself_ _away_ _from_ _Dick._ _"Oh dear, I think our little Hood is confused. Why don't we_ _enlighten_ _him, Robin?" Dick just shook his head. "Stay the fuck away_ _from_ _me."_

 _Wow, if Dick was_ _swearing_ _, than he was serious about this, he didn't_ _want_ _Jason to_ _know_ _whatever Jasons wasn't supposed to know. And he didn't want Joker_ _anywhere_ _near_ _him. Jason could relate to that._

 _The_ _Joker_ _shook_ _his_ _head sadly. "Tsk,_ _tsk_ _,_ _tsk_ _, Bird Boy. I thought I taught you how to behave around your olders."_ _Dick_ _snort. "_ _Hell_ _will freeze over before I listen to_ _you_ _." A_ _dangerous_ _glint was_ _in_ _the_ _Joker's_ _eyes as he paced in front of the brothers. "Is that a_ _challenge_ _?" He sounded truly_ _excited_ _, rubbing his hands together like a child on its birthday_ _. "_ _Dick_ _," hissed_ _Jason_ _warningly, struggling to free his limps from the heavy metal chains._ _His_ _brother was moving on very thin ice there._

 _Ignoring_ _Jason, Dick_ _just_ _stared angrily at his captor. He was so done being afraid. Joker started laughing again and moved Dick's chair so he was facing Jason._  
_"So," said the villain, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "Who is ready to reveal some secrets?" Jason_ _frowned_ _. "What the fuck are you talking 'bout?"_  
_Joker tutted and wiggled his_ _finger_ _at Jason_. _"There_ _shouldn't_ _be any secrets between_ _brothers_ _, but our dear Birdie has a few things he doesn't want to share. I am just_ _trying_ _to_ _strengthen_ _the bond between you two. I'm_ _trying_ _to help!" Jason glared at him and snort. "We don't need your help, so thanks, but no thanks."_

 _Another slap to his cheek. It was really starting to sting now. What's up_ _with_ _people_ _hitting_ _him in his_ _beautiful_ _face?! "I am not giving you_ _a_ _choice_ _,_ _" growled_ _their_ _captor_ _._

 _He took a pocket knife out of his lilac suit jacket. Jason_ _eyes the blade warily_ _, but the Joker strode over to Dick, who_ _started_ _to struggle in his chair. "Hey!" cried Jason, glaring_ _daggers_ _at the Joker and trying to get out of his bindings. "Leave him alone, you freak!"_

 _The Joker just laughed. "Oh, I don't_ _want_ _to hurt him, I'm just going to cut open his shirt, that's all." If Dick and Jason would have been in any other situation_ _, Jason would have said_ _something_ _stupid about the Joker wanting to see_ _Dick_ _shirtless_ _, but_ _Dick_ _looked really panicked, so Jason bit his_ _tongue_ _and kept quiet. As_ _their_ _tormentor started to cut away on his_ _shirt_ _, Dick struggled even harder, but the chains kept him in place. "Now, now, Robby, stay still or you'll hurt yourself."_  
_"Get away from me," hissed Dick, his voice laced with anger and_ _hatred_ _and an_ _underlying_ _sense of terror._

 _Jason had never seen his brother like this, so panicked and helpless. The_ _Joker_ _ignored Dick's protest. Once he had fully stripped_ _Dick_ _off his shirt, he stepped aside to show Jason_ _the_ _bare chest of his_ _older_ _brother. Jason gasped. Scars. Scars littered Dick's body_ _li_ _ke_ _a second skin._ _Jason let out a choked sound, a mix between a whine_ _and_ _an angry growl. Yeah, they all had scars, they_ _all_ _had been hurt, hell, he died, but Dick's injuries... it was a whole new level of_ _disturbing_ _. Some of those scars looked really old, like from the_ _beginning_ _of his time as Robin. The_ _psychos_ _of Gotham had obviously no_ _qualms_ _cutting_ _up_ _a nine-year-old kid._

 _The Joker_ _looked_ _at all the scars in glee. "Beautiful, aren't_ _they_ _?" Jason_ _couldn't agree. His_ _definition_ _of beautiful was defenitifly_ _different_ _from the Joker's. The_ _maniac_ _brushed over one of the scars with his finger and Dick shuddered. "I_ _like_ _this one the most," said Joker, pointing at a scar_ _right over Dick's heart. Jason narrowed his eyes. There, carved deeply into his brother's skin was the word_ ' _favorite_ _'. Jason's eyes widened in realization. That's why Dick had reacted so_ _violently_ _when the_ _Joker_ _had called_ _him_ _that, because he was already marked as such._

 _"Dick," whispered Jason in horror. He wondered what scars_ _the_ _others_ _were hiding. What reminders Damian had of his childhood training and the Replacemt's_ _encounters_ _with_ _Ra's and Gotham's craziests._

 _The Joker_ _laughed_ _happily_ _and raging fury filled Jason. Screw Bruce and his no killing rule. He was gonna put a bullet in that asshole's head and splatter his brains_ _on_ _the damn floor. "I swear to god, I will kill you for this, I_ _will_ _rip you ap-" A_ _knife_ _at Dick's throat stopped his rambling._ _"Tsk_ _,_ _tsk_ _, I don't like_ _being_ _threatened and you don't want me to add another scar on your brother's body, do you?" Jason gritted his teeth in anger but shut his mouth. "Good,"_ _purred_ _the crazy man in front of him. "And now apologize." Jason almost laughed. Yeah_ _right_ _, as if. The knife was pressed deeper into Dick's skin and droplets of blood ran down his neck. Jason clenched his fists. "Come on, Jay Jay. I just_ _want_ _to hear those little words. It's not that hard. C'mon, be a good birdie and do as I say. Please... It won't kill you-," he whined. Then a smirk split his face. "But_ _disobeying_ _will_ _kill_ _your_ _precious brother."_

 _And as he pressed the_ _knife_ _even deeper_ _into_ _Dick's neck and Dick hissed in pain, Jason finally lowered his head, eyes_ _burning_ _with rage. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, hands clutching the arms of his chair. "What was that?" mocked the Joker, cackling as Jason glared at him and yelled, "I said I am sorry! Are you happy now? What else do you wanna hear?"_  
_"Oh, yes I am happy. As happy as Voldemort was when he killed that Potter kid and won the war."_  
_"That's not how the book ends,"_ _muttered_ _Jason, surprised Joker even knew what Harry Potter was._  
_"It's not? A shame. Maybe I_ _should_ _kill the author, torture her and_ _force_ _her_ _to rewrite_ _it_ _. Not_ _necessarily_ _in that_ _order_ _."_

 _He took_ _something_ _out of his pocket. Jason realized_ _that_ _it were two masked,_ _similar_ _to_ _the_ _ones Red Robin and Robin wore. The Joker grinned and put them on the brothers' faces, who were struggling the whole time, but they couldn't do much with their bound hands and feet. Then he turned to his left- Jason suspected the door to be there- and whistled once. A second later, they could hear_ _the_ _creak of a door and another figure stepped into the_ _light_ _. Jason did a double take. Scarecrow. Looks_ _like_ _the Joker_ _brought_ _his_ _friends_ _, but wanted to be the only one who knew their secret_ _identity_ _._

 _The_ _villain_ _smirked. "Who do we have here? Two of the B_ _at's_ _boys?"_  
_"Yes, yes," answered the Joker in a song-song voice. "Red_ _Hood_ _and our little Birdie."_  
_"Who is who? They l look the_ _same_ _to me. And why is Red Hood_ _wearing_ _a mask? What_ _happened_ _to his helmet?" The Joker shrugged_ _innocently_ _. "I don't know. I_ _guess_ _they were trying to confuse me._ _Didn't_ _really work," he_ _added_ _the last part quietly, voice dangerously low, sending shivers down Jason's spine, then he_ _pointed at_ _Dick. "This one's Robin."_

 _The smile that crept on Scarecrow's face couldn't be a good sign. He had never directly interfered with Scarecrow's work while becoming a crime_ _Lord_ _(_ _If_ _Black Mask were here, that would be a different story) but the villain was still no fan of him. "The_ _little_ _Birdie in chains, huh, and no Batman to save you." He turned to Jason, "Both of you."_

 _Jason_ _glared_ _at him and the Joker. "What the hell do you want?" Scarecrow smirked. "_ _Information_ _. We want to know where the Batcave is." Jason glanced at Joker and_ _the_ _glint in his captor's eyes told him that he already knew the answer. The Joker just wanted to see how long Red Hood and Robin could resist the pain that was to come._ _It was no surprise, really. The Joker had never cared_ _for_ _secret identities. Scarecrow_ _on_ _the other hand..._ _Damn_ _, what had Dick gotten Jason into this time._

That was the last time he had seen Dick. Scarecrow had taken Jason to the cell he was currently in and the Joker had taken Dick somewhere else. That bastard had but speakers inside Jason's cell and the next few hours were torture.

Jason was forced to listen to Dick's never-ending, horrible screams of pain. Jason was sure that he was going to go insane if he had to listen to his brother's anguish any longer. One day and Jason was already cracking. They needed help, asap.   
_______________________________  
**A/N: Pleaseeee don't kill me. I** **have** **to admit** **that** **I didn't really plan this chapter and I kinda got off track, but yeah...** **What do you think?**


	10. Chapter eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman's pissed, the Team is also pissed, and Jason is always pissed.

Damian growled in frustration. Three days, three long days and they still hadn't found anything on the Joker. His useless brothers were still nowhere to be found and Drake, the fool, had insisted on not staying in bed.

"Where is that imbecile?" he growled, staring holes into the Bat-computer. That's when the alarm sign popped up on the screen. "Great," muttered Damian sarcastically. "A robbery." Just what they needed. He sighed and called the team downstairs. Damian would never admit it, but he was worried for his brothers, Drake somewhat included. He was still injured, and a bullet to the stomach doesn't heal fast.

Someone cleared their throat and Damian spun around. The team stood behind him, looking nervous.  
"Did you find anything?" He shook his head. "No, but there is a robbery going on. I need you to go there while I keep on searching for Grayson and Todd." Kaldur nodded. "We will put the thief behind bars, but you need rest. When was the last time you slept?" Damian shrugged. "Don't know, don't care."   
"I will look for Dick and Jason," said a voice and everybody turned their heads towards the entrance of the cave.   
"Tim, you are supposed to sleep. You're still healing," scolded Artemis, crossing her arms over her chest. Tim just rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. Damian, you go to sleep. Now."

Damian glared at Tim, but he knew that his brother wouldn't back down, so he sighed and nodded reluctantly. If he thought about it, he was pretty tired and sleep wouldn't hurt anyone. "Fine, but call me as soon as you find anything." Tim nodded.

"Don't you have a mission?" the older boy asked the team, watching his brother ascent the stairs. Kaldur didn't seem happy to leave Tim alone, but be nodded. "Just be careful, your wound hasn't fully healed yet."   
"Yes, yes, now go. I'll get some coffee and I'll be fine."   
With one last worried glance at Tim, the team left the Batcave as well.

Tim turned his attention back to the screen. He noticed with a slight smirk that Damian had managed to hack into the security cameras all around Gotham. "So he did listen during my hacking lessons," he muttered.

His eyes searched for anything suspicious, anything that hinted at the Joker, Harley or his brothers. He didn't know what had happened after he'd been shot, but the brat had told him that Joker had left Harley and once Tim had been out of danger, Damian'd went back to bring her in, but she'd been gone.

With a sigh, he rubbed his eyes. There was nothing unusual on the video feed, so he decided to watch over the Young Justice's mission.  
_________

Megan was sensing a lot of different emotions from the team. Mostly guilt and worry. Megan herself felt very sorrowful. Now that she knew that Dick was Robin, things had gotten personal. No one messes with their team without consequences.

Megan sighed and asked, ' _Is the mind link_ _up_ _?'_ The team nodded. _'Good,'_ said Aqualad, taking the lead, _'Let's move. We need to be at the jewellery store before the thief leaves.'_ They moved forward.

Megan looked through on of the store windows and gasped, covering her mouth. _'What the hell is that?!'_ She could hear Connor growl threw the mind link, seriously grossed out. ' _That's Scarecrow. One of_ _Gotham's_ _regulars_. _'_ Explained Artemis.

Wally snort and looked at him closely. "Well, I bet _he_ doesn't have a girlfriend." Artemis hit him across the head. _'_ _N_ _ot important, idiot. And speak through the link, he could hear you.'_ Wally rolled his eyes. _'Whatever.'_

 _"Let's go in,'_ commanded Aqualad. He took out his weapon and position himself in front of the door. _'I will kick the door open, Miss M., Superboy and Wally will come_ _through_ _the windows and Artemis will follow me, understood?'_ Everybody nodded their heads and Aqualad held three fingers up. Then he started the countdown and kicked the door open when his last finger was down.

They surrounded the creepy villain, who didn't seem startled at all. Megan narrowed her eyes and took a closer look at the store. Nothing was missing. _'Guys, I don't think he's here_ _to_ _steal_ _anything_ _at all_ _.'_ And as if he'd heard her, Scarecrow began to speak. "The junior League, how nice of you to show up. Took you long enough." Aqualad narrowed his eyes.

"What do you want?"   
"Me? I don't want anything, but I see that you are a teammate down. Someone you want back." Megan gasped. _'Is he_ _talking_ _about Robin?'_  
 _'But that would mean he_ _knows_ _that_ _Dick_ _Grayson is Robin!'_ exclaimed Artemis slightly panicked. Aqualad glared at the villain. "If you don't want anything, than why are you here?" Scarecrow laughed, his voice sounded cut off through the mask.

"I lied, I do want these beauties." He pointed at a few diamond necklaces. Wally crossed his arms. "I don't think they go well with your skin colour. And what makes you think that we will just let you walk out with them anyway?" Their opponent smirked. "I am sure you don't want your precious bird to get hurt, do you? We got him and that little Red Hood bastard."

Megan clenched her fists. How dare that monster blackmail them with the health of their friends? But aside from that, there was something else... She narrowed her eyes and concentrated on the man's mind. Images flashed through her own mind as she went through his newest memories.

_Robin and Red Hood, with domino masks on their faces; Jason being dragged to a dark, little cell, and a scene that she wished she could forget; Robin chained to a table, his mouth opened in a silent scream and his eyes showing too much pain for Megan to handle._

She gasped and pulled out of Scarecrow's mind like she'd been shot. She collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. "You okay?" asked Artemis quietly and she nodded. "And now," said the villain who hadn't noticed Miss Martian's penetration of his privacy, "I will take those jewellers, while you stand there and watch."

Wally had his fists clenched tightly and growled. "You won't get away with this. We will find Robin and Red Hood and we will stop you and the Joker." He was not letting his best friend be used against him. Scarecrow just laughed. "I highly doubt that." He winked at the team and started shoving the expensive jewellers inside his pockets and they were unable to do anything against it. They could just stand there and grit their teeth in silent anger. "See you soon, kids." And then he was gone.

"That bastard," growled Aqualad, punching the wall. "Let's go back," muttered Megan gravely. "I need to tell you something."

The team met back in the Batcave, where Damian and Tim were already waiting for them. "What the hell was that?!" exclaimed Tim loudly. "You let Scarecrow go without fight _and_ let him steal the jewellery?!"   
Megan lifted her hands, trying to calm the boy. "Has has allied himself with the Joker. He threatened Robin and Red Hood. We had no choice." Tim growled very animal-like, but then his eyes widened. "Wait, what?! He knows who they are?!" Damian ran a hand threw his hair. "This is bad, really bad. Father will kill us."   
"No-"   
Megan was interrupted by Kaldur. "If they found out who Dick and Jason are, then they probably also know your identities."   
"Guys-" Megan tried again, but Tim spoke louder than her. "We need to find them, now! And we need to tell Batman!"  
"GUYS!" Yelled Megan, anger boiling inside her. Couldn't they just listen to her for once?

"What is it, Megan?" asked Kaldur nicely, noticing her anger. "Scarecrow doesn't know their secret identities." Tim frowned. "But-"   
"I guess that only the Joker knows- which is bad enough. I read Scarecrow's mind and saw that the Joker had put domino masks on Dick's and Jason's face." Tim ran a hand over his face and groaned. "This is still bad. If the Joker doesn't want anyone else to know who they really are, then he's planning to use that information somehow. Maybe sell it, or blackmail us."

Megan bit her lip nervously. She wasn't sure weather she should tell them about Dick getting tortured or not. She shuddered as she remembered his tormented expression and anger swelled up inside her once again. Robin was only sixteen, damn it!

"Megan?" Asked Tim carefully. "Is there something else you want to tell us?" Megan looked around warily. Everyone was watching her now and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortablely. "Well, there is one more thing... I- I saw Robin and... he- I... He was being tortured." She muttered the last part quietly, eyes fixed on the ground.

Damian took a sharp breath and Tim clenched his fists. "Okay, we need to find them, now. I'm going to call Batman." No one objected, not even Wally, who was more than scared that the Dark Knight would kill them all.  
Tim pushed a few buttons on the computer and then Batman appeared on the screen, cowl over his face. He looked at the teenagers and a scowl appeared on his lips.

"You told them." Tim nodded. "We had to, Bruce. We are in trouble, serious trouble. The Joker kidnapped Dick and Jason and he knows that they are Robin and Red Hood and Scarecrow sided with him, but he doesn't know their secret identities, he just thinks that the Joker kidnapped Robin and Hood, and now he is rampaging through Gotham and we can't stop him, because he threatened to hurt Dick and Jason and we believe that the Joker knows our identities, too, and please don't kill us!" He gasped for air and stared as his father-figure warily.

Batman took a moment to process everything and the team could see the burning rage in Daddybats' eyes. He was probably wondering how they managed to screw up so terrifically in only two days. "I'm on my way." He ended the call and Tim glanced at everyone else. "I hope that Dick and Jason can hold on long enough for Batman to find them." Damian was glaring daggers at the wall.  
The brothers glanced at each other. They just hoped they would get the other two boys back in one piece and that they would still be the same. They both knew how much torture could change people, especially now that Jason was back with the Joker and Dick had probably trouble with his overprotectiveness.  
_________

Dick coughed up blood. He was lying on the cold, hard ground in a small cell, eyes closed shut. Scarecrow and the Joker had stopped asking questions a day ago. His body hurt and he shivered, hugging his knees to his chest in an attempt to keep his body warm. It was so cold that he could see his breath in front of his face and he couldn't move a muscle without whimpering in pain. He had tried to sit up a few minutes ago, but a burning fire had raced through his limbs and Dick had quickly collapsed. The only good thing about the cold was that it was numbing his body, so the burning pain subsided into a dull throbbing.

His biggest problem was breathing. Joker and Scarecrow would give him two cups of water each day and after this day's torture- he shuddered at the thought- his throat was as dry as sandpaper and every breath hurt like a knife tearing his throat apart.

Dick hated to show pain in front of his enemys, but the Joker had injected him with some kind of drug and the pain had been unbearable, so Dick had screamed, he had screamed for a very long time, because the pain hadn't lessened for what felt like forever. The poison was still in his blood system, weakening Dick, but not killing him. Scarecrow didn't even think it was necessary to chain him up, he had just thrown him onto the ground.

Dick missed Jason. He hadn't seen him in the three days they had been held captive and he hated being alone. He needed someone to talk to, someone who would comfort him and give him the typical 'It's going to be okay' talk.

And Dick was scared of what the Joker was doing to Jason, considering that he had killed him before. Joker had talked, a lot, while he had cut Dick's skin to ribbons, and he had described every detail of Jason's death, from his screams and Joker's glee to the sound of bone breaking. It had been sickening. And Joker had also told Dick how angry, how furious, he was that his masterpiece had been ruined, the punchline of the perfect Joke hitting Joker in the face, not Batman.

The creak of a door pulled him out of his thoughts. _I'm too tired for this,_ he thought, quickly putting on his poker face as he heard footsteps approaching. "Welcome to my humble place," laughed the Joker and Dick looked up to see who he was talking to. There was just the lilac-clad maniac. _He_ _is_ _talking_ _to himself_ _, of course_. "Here are our guest room, the other one was sadly, luckily, merrily occupied by a Red Todd man in a Jason Hood. We have everything you desire, a balcony to watch kids kill each other in crime alley, a garden to sell the prostitutes some drugs and so on! Oh, would you look at that, this room is also already used, too. And this, children, is a bird, a Robin, to be specific.

"But Mr. J, he looks hurt," he mimicked a small child, faking concern. "Oh, you're right. Do you know what always helps, children? Fun! Loads and loads of fun." He bend down and breathed right in Dick's face. "So, what do you say, let's have some _fun_ , Bird Boy. I'm just finished with your brother, but he didn't give me the satisfaction I wanted. That kid is mean," he complained, stretching out the 'ea'.

"But maybe you will?"   
Dick wanted to growl, but he could only choke out a gurgling sound. The Joker laughed. "Don't worry, our little Hood is still alive." Relieve washed over Dick and a bit of the tension left his body. The maniac cackled and crouched down next to him. "Why are you so quiet, Pumpkin? Sing for me one more time, will you?"   
____________________________________  
 **A/N: So, what do you think?** **I probably won't be able to update so much the next week, because I 'm writing three** **freaking** **class tests 😭😭😭😭😭, but I write as much as I can.**


	11. Chapter nine

To say Batman was furious when he found out that Tim had been shot was an understatement. Unfortunately, he let his anger out on the furniture. Let's just say that Bruce Wayne was in the desperate need of a new kitchen.

Tim just sighed. "I'm fine, Bruce, really, what's really important is finding Jason and Dick." The older man nodded, still shaking in anger. This was the first time the team had seen the Batman expressing emotions and they didn't like it one bit. "Did you tell Barbara about this?" Tim and Damian stiffed and looked at each other in horror. "Uh oh, we forgot to tell her." Batman stared at the two in disbelieve. "She's going to kill you," he deadpanned. 

Artemis frowned. "Who is Barbara?" "Grayson's girlfriend," answered Damian with growing panic. Tim nodded vigorously. "Yes, and she is also Batgirl. A very angry Batgirl if we don't tell her that her boyfriend has been kidnapped! And believe me, you do _not_ want to make her angry." Bruce sighed, massaging his temples. "Just go downstairs and call her." Tim and Damian disappeared into the Batcave and the team was left alone with Batman.   
Artemis was starting to really worry now, with the vigilante losing his composure like that. Batman does not show emotions, he is stoic and dark and straight-forward. Bruce Wayne on the other hand only appeared like a father worried sick for his sons. It caused unease to take root in Artemis' stomach.  
_

Batman was giving them a lecture about having _one_ mission and failing, about letting Tim get shot and generally scaring the crap out of the team when they heard a crash, screaming and two pairs of footsteps running toward them. "What the-" muttered Artemis as the team stepped aside to let Tim and Damian ran past them, looking horrified and screaming bloody murder. Then they disappeared behind the door at the end of the living room. 

"Uh?" asked Artemis again, staring at the spot the brothers had last been in. "What just happened?" Then they heard an unfamiliar voice screaming for the boys to come back. "You brainless idiots! I swear I'll kill you if you don't come back here right now so I can kill you! It doesn't matter what you do, you will die anyways! When I get my hands on you, you Hobos, I'll snap you in half!" 

A girl with bright red hair and a furious glint in her eyes ran into the living room, stopping short once she saw the team. "Hi, I'm Barbara." Then she turned to Batman. "Where are they?" Bruce pointed at the door the brothers had ran through and the girl- Barbara- continued chasing the Batboys. "So," muttered Artemis, "That was Robin's girlfriend?" Batman nodded. "Barbara Gordon. Batgirl."   
"Will she be able to help us find them?"   
"I hope so." 

After three hours of trying to stop Barbara from killing Tim and Damian for not telling her that her boyfriend was missing, they all met in the Batcave, Damian with a broken nose and Tim with a black eye and split lip.   
"What do we know?" asked Batman, adressing Aqualad. He was back to being Batman, focused solely on the mission. The Atlantian stepped forward. "Nothing much. We know that Scarecrow has sided with the Joker. He thinks that the Joker kidnapped Robin and Red Hood and doesn't know their secret identities. That's about it."   
"That is not much to go by."   
"We know."   
Batman sighed and turned to his sons. "Have you tried to activate their trackers?" Damian shook his head. "The trackers are in the suits and Dick and Jason are in civilian clothes. There is no way to find them that way."   
"I wasn't talking about th-"   
"You were talking about the trackers in our arms, weren't you?" spat Tim, holding up his arm and pointing at a fading scar. "I cut it out." 

The whole room fell silent and then Damian growled, "There is a fucking tracker in my arm?"  
Batman nodded his head. "I put trackers in all of you- so I always know where you are- for situations like this."   
"And you didn't tell us?!" Damian's face showed anger, hurt and betrayal.   
"I didn't tell you, because I knew you would react badly," replied Bruce calmly. His son glared at him and then turned to Tim. "And you? Why didn't you tell me?!" 

Tim rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Demon Brat. I first wanted to look if you even had any trackers in you, so I activated every tracker inside the house. The only ones I found were mine, the ones in our suits, the batmobile, etc. There was non inside you." 

"There was," corrected Bruce. He didn't sound sorry at all and that got Tim and Damian even madder. "Your trackers work on different frequencies."

Damian glared at him. "We will use those trackers to find Grayson and Todd and you will tell them, or I will. And I will cut mine out." He strode to the entrance of the cave and slammed the door shut behind him. 

Tim looked at Bruce with angry eyes. "I didn't say anything because Damian holds you higher than a God, he is blind when it comes to you. But if you don't trust us enough to tell us that you put a tracking device on us, there will be no more patrolling, Bruce. This whole operation is based on mutual trust, you should know that better than anyone. You have always been suspicious of everything, but this is plain paranoia. I appreciate that you want to keep us safe, but you also wanted to be able to control us, at least to some extent and maybe that's just who you are, but you need to work on that, or this whole family is going down." 

Then he walked out too, followed by Barbara. The team stared awkwardly at the ground. "Leave," ordered Batman, and the team hurried out, shocked at what they had just witnessed.

As soon as the Young Justice exited the cave, Bruce punched the wall. "Damn it!" He knew that he should have told his sons about the trackers, but he just wanted to protect them- he needed to protect them. He closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry," he muttered and turned to the computer. "But I don't regret it. This is my only chance to find you." He typed a few things on the keyboard and two red dots appeared on the screen. He smiled slightly. "Got you."  
_

Batman called the team, Damian and Tim back into the cave. "I found them. They are in the abondened warehouse-district at the docks." Wally snort. "Cliché." Artemis jabbed his ribs with her elbow. "Not helping, idiot." The speedster rubbed his side and glared at the blonde archer. "Geez, just trying to lighten up the mood." 

Batman ignored their bickering and motioned Damian to follow him. They stepped a few feet aside and Damian glared at his father. "What? If you're not here to apologize, then I would like to go back to the team." Batman looked at him with calm eyes, ignoring the young boy's glare. He knew he was doing the right thing now. "You can't come with us." 

"What?!" Batman held up his hand to silence his furious son. "At least not as Damian Wayne." He pointed at the showcase with the Robin suit. "I think you are ready." Damian didn't say anything for the first few seconds, trying to process what Bruce just said. 

"Wait, but Dick-"   
"Wants to be his own hero, not a sidekick. He always acts uncomfortable when people refer to him as my sidekick. I think it's time for him to move on and for you to take over his mantle." Damian just stared at him, mouth agape. "We need to talk to Dick about this, but if he agrees, you will be Robin."   
"...Fine."

Bruce sighed in relieve and Damian frowned at him. "You doubted that I'd say yes, because of the whole tracker thing." Bruce nodded and Damian pursed his lips. "I'm still angry with you, but I know that you only wanted to protect us, which is also the reason I didn't cut it out."   
"You didn't?" asked Bruce surprised, raising his eyebrows. Damian shook his head. "But you'll _never_ do something like this again, _ever_."   
"I wasn't planning to."  
"Good."  
Batman nodded his head and turned to the team. "Suit up."   
The clock struck midnight. The fourth day of Dick's and Jason's captivity had begun and hopefully, it would be the last, but when do things ever go according to plan?


	12. Chapter ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Dick do not have a good time. And Harley is missing.

Four days. Four days since Dick and Jason had been kidnapped and four days since they last saw each other. 

Dick moaned quietly as a sharp pain erupted in his side. The Joker had been kicking and punching him for what felt like hours now. "Again, Boy Blunder, where is she?!" Another kick to his side and Dick yelped in pain as he heard a rib crack. He glared at Joker and spat, "How many times do I have to say it before you finally get it through that thick skull of yours? I DON'T KNOW!" 

Blood splattered across the stone walls as the villain punched the teenage boy in the face. Dick grunted, but didn't say anything else. Apparently, Harley had been missing since the day the Joker had kidnapped them and now he was looking for his queen (though he had been the one to leave her in the first place). 

Dick smirked, blood running down the corner of his mouth. "And here I was, thinking you didn't care for her. Maybe she finally realized that you are just using her and moved on." A punch to his solar plexus left him gasped for air and coughing up blood. Again. This was really getting old.

He glared at the scarred face in front of him and pushed himself in a sitting position. The Joker put his boot on Dick's chest and forced him down again. The teen struggled, but couldn't get the Joker off of him, not in his weakened state. "I will ask you one more time," the villain threatened quietly, "Where is Harley?" 

Dick kept silent. He had no idea where the hell Harley was, but the Joker didn't seem to believe him (which was stupid, 'cause he had been stuck here this whole time!)

"Where does the Young Justice keep their prisoners?" Dick snort, though it sounded somewhat painful. "We don't take prisoners. We are not like you." A punch to the side if his head. Dick groaned. Why was everything spinning? Man, did Joker's face look strange... why did he have two noses? Black dots danced in front of his eyes and he had trouble staying conscious. "If _you_ don't give me answers-" snarled the cold voice of the Joker next to his ear and Dick shivered as his breath touched his skin, "Then I will just have to ask your brother." 

It was like a cold hand squeezed Dick's heart as he heard those words. "No," he mumbled, but it was too late, the Jester of Genocide had already left the cell and a tear ran down Dick's cheek as he finally welcomed the darkness.   
___________

Jason wasn't sure weather he was conscious or not, every now and then, he heard voices somewhere outside his cell, but then darkness would claim him again and the next time Jason came to, the voices were gone. And the worst thing; he couldn't see. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to see anything, not even his own hand. It was pitch-plack and Jason felt confined, like... like he was trapped, trapped in a small box six feet under. 

He tired to calm his racing heart. _Don't panic,_ he inwardly scolded himself. Bruce had thought him better. _Concentrate on your other senses._ He listened to any sounds in- and outside the cell, but was greeted with silence. _Great, I can't see, nor hear anything. Just astrous. Oh God, now I sound like Dick. And I am talking to myself. I am going crazy!_

The creak of a door pulled him out of his thoughts. Jason wasn't sure weather to be relieved or not, because he would have started discussing the pros and cons of Wally's and Artemis' relationship if he was left by himself any longer, but the opening of the door normally meant pain, so... hard choice.

Jason tried to push himself off the ground, but he realized that he couldn't move. His breath hitched as he started to panic even harder. He tried to open his mouth, but he wasn't able to do that either. _Well, that explains why I can't see anything. I have my eyes closed. Great observation skills, Jason. And I'm talking to myself again. Urgh!_ As the typical mad laugh hit his ears, Jason wanted to cover them, but his muscles wouldn't listen. What was happening? Why can't he move, damn it?! 

"Is our little Jay Jay panicking?"   
Jason inwardly spat, _Yeah, you know. I just can't move, but I don't expect you to understand my dilemma, considering that your brain- oh wait, you don't have one._  
Jason imagined the Joker smirking and pacing around him. "Let me guess, you think of the best way to kill me, don't you?"   
_Put a bullet in your head and splatter your brains across the walls._  
"You know, I really wish I could leave you like this, not talking, not moving, just blessed silence, but I need some answers." 

Jason felt a prick in this neck. At first, nothing happened, but then his limps started to tingle. He twitched his fingers and groaned at the burning sensation that raced through his arm. 

"Oh, I forgot. This could hurt," laughed the Joker, staring in glee at the hurting boy.   
After what felt like hours of pain, Jason was finally able to move again and the pain died down. "Bastard," he grumbled, pushing himself on his hands and knees to sit against the wall. 

He glared at the maniac that still stood in front of him. Jason's eyes widened as he saw the blood staining his lilac suit and covered his mouth to stop himself from screaming in rage. He knew exactly whose blood that was. "You sick son of a bitch! What did you do?!"   
The Joker laughed, his red lips twisted into a gruesome smirk and Jason felt sick. "What did you do?" mimicked the Joker Jason's question and laughed again. "Nothing much, really. But your brother is too stubborn for his own good." 

Jason gritted his teeth. _You think he is stubborn? You haven't met me yet, bitch._ "You'll regret ever touching him," growled Jason, glaring at his tormentor. "Whatever you say. But I'm not here to talk about your brother, I want answers he wouldn't give me."   
"I know little to nothing about the League or their sidekicks and I may be on thin ice with Batman, but I'll not betray him," spat Jason, glaring at the Clown Prince of Assholes. 

The Joker narrowed his eyes and smirked. "You angry with old Batsy? What a twist! Ha, a bat angry with the Bat. That's a _blast_ , wouldn't you agree, Hoodie? He, _blast_." He emphasized the last part and noticed with satisfaction the shudder that run through Jason's body. 

The boy averted his eyes and glared at the ground. He still had nightmares about the whole dying, crawling out of his grave and taking a dip in the Lazarus Pit fiasco. He remembered how he'd laid on the blood stained ground that day, still having the hope that Bruce would save him in time, but with each blow from the crowbar and each tick from the bomb, his hope had dimmed like the light of a candle, until it fully died down with the last _tick_. 

A hard kick to his side snapped him out of his thoughts. Jason bit his lip to stop a surprised yelp. "Pay attention, Red," scolded the Joker, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. "Tell me, where is Harley?" Jason just raised his eyebrows. "You've lost your girlfriend?" The Joker kneeled down next to him, an angry look in his eyes. He seemed almost... concerned? That's new. "I only want you to answer one little question, could you do that for me? Pretty please." Jason rolled his eyes. "I could, but I really am not interested in talking to psychopaths with hideous hair and a really bad fashion taste, so no, I won't answer your stupid question." 

Another harsh kick to his side and Jason couldn't stop the quiet grunt from tearing through his lips. "You should learn some manners, young man."   
"No thanks," wheezed Jason, trying to catch his breath. "I already went to school and I can tell you, it sucks." The Joker sighed in mock annoyance. "Well, then I'll just have to force you to learn. Maybe you'll answer my question after our _lesson_."   
____________

Harley groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. She rubbed her temples and tried to remember what had happened... Right _, the Grayson boy, a tree, Joker-_ "Puddin'," she yelled, jumping to her feet. She looked around the room she was in wildly. 

Harley frowned as she took in her surroundings. Everything looked so familiar, but at the same time... not. Like something she had not seen for years, but had known really well before. 

Someone cleared their throat.  
She spun around and gasped as she saw a boy sitting on the bed next to her. Dark blue hair, sky blue eyes and a crazy grin plastered on his face. Harley stumbled back in surprise. 

"Don't worry, Joker is fine. I heard he has captured two of the Batboys. The bird and the Hood," he said, his voice cold like the night. Harley didn't reply, she kept her eyes on the boy, still not believing who sat in front of her. She knew him, she knew him so well, and not at all. 

"You're back," she whispered, feeling sane for the first time in so long. The boy stood up and laid a hand on her cheek, his fingers comfortably cool. Harley leaned into the touch, afraid that he would vanish again. "Why are you here, Castor?" She asked, looking into those blue eyes that were so much like hers. "Because of you. You and dad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ahhh! Please don't kill me! What do you think? What role will Castor play (though it's not that big of a role, so don't worry if you don't like OCs). What has happened to Jason during his lesson with the Joker? How is Dick? Will the team- and especially Batman- be there in time, or will it be just like the last time- too late?


	13. Chapter eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A call to the Batcave

Bruce sighed deeply. The team, Barbara, Tim and Damian had gathered in the Batcave, everyone suited up and ready to go. 

"We need a plan. If we go for a frontal attack, than we will easily be outnumbered and the Joker will just leave through a backdoor." He pointed at the map the Bat-computer was showing. "Considering that the warehouse is near the docks, we can make sure that none of Joker's thugs get away."   
"I can prevent any of them get even near the water," volunteered Aqualad and Batman nodded in approval. "Take someone with you, it's too dangerous for you alone."   
"I'll go," said Wally, raising his hand.   
"No, we need you to find Dick and Jason," decided Batman, shaking his head. Aqualad looked at Artemis who nodded. "I'll stay with Aqualad."   
"But-" Wally was interrupted by Batman. "Yes. The rest of you will go in two groups, Kid Flash, Red Robin and Miss Martian will search the northern part of the warehouse and Superboy, Batgirl and Robin the southern." Damian frown. "And what will you do?"   
"I'll go after the Joker."  
"He managed to escape Ahkram many times. Maybe you should put him somewhere else," pointed Aqualad out, frowning slightly. 

Batman shook his head, deep in thoughts. "But we can't put him in any ordinary prison and I definitively won't kill him, so what other option do we have?" Aqualad's eyes widened slightly and a small smile appeared on his lips as an idea struck him. "Atlantis."  
"What?"  
"We have prison cells filled with air in Atlantis. It would be perfect for him. The Joker won't be able to break out, because the cells are surrounded by water." Batman seemed to consider Aqualad's proposal for a second and then he nodded. "Fine. Then let's go, it's time to get the boys back and put the Joker behind bars for good." 

That's when the Bat-computer started to bleep. Batman groaned in annoyance. "Who the hell is video-calling me _now_?!" He stomped over to the beeping object and pressed a button. The screen flickered to life and the team stiffed at the white-plastered face that grinned at the camera. 

"Joker," growled Batman darkly, clenching his fists. He didn't miss the red color that stained his purple suit. How had he hacked into his system? Or had he somehow gotten Batman's number? 

Next to Bruce, Batgirl was glaring at the captor of her boyfriend. "What the hell did you do to Robin?" She was beyond furious and Bruce shuddered inwardly as he remembered the last time Barbara was furious at Jason- he had been in a body cast for weeks. 

The Joker cackled. "My, my, somebody has a temper."   
"Screw you," grumbled Tim. "She asked you a question." The Joker raised his eyebrows. "You should really watch your tongue, little boy, considering that I have your brothers at my mercy." 

Damian gritted his teeth and Barbara punched the table, the screens shaking. "What the hell do you want?" The Joker seemed to be thinking for a moment. "Good question. I want a lot of things; a new suit, more hair dye for free- it's really expensive, you know-, I want a nice little villa at the beach somewhere on Hawaii, I want the next episodes of my favorite show to finally be released, I wa-"   
"Stop playing around, Joker," growled Batman, giving him his famous Bat-glare, but Joker just shrugged it off. "Don't be such a spoilsport, Batsy... or should I say _Bruce_?"

The team stiffed and Batman narrowed his eyes. "You didn't call just to chit-chat, now did you?"   
The Joker pouted. "Oh, come on! Don't say you didn't miss me. You know, I was really surprised to find out who your brats really are." He cackled. "You should have seen Hood's face when he saw _my_ little bird's scars. It was really delightful! And Robin's reaction when I told him what beautiful sound Jay made just before I blew him up. Did you know that he is still angry with you for not saving him? I'm disappointed, kiddo, deeply disappointed." Batman stiffed, ignoring the fact that the Joker had just called him kiddo. He knew that Jason was still... unhappy with him, But did the Joker really need to know that?

Batgirl, who looked ready to explode, gripped the edges of the table, her knuckles turning white. "Just tell us what you want, or we will end the call." She sounded dangerously calm, but a fire was buring inside her eyes. The Joker sighed. "Another spoilsport, great. I just wanted to show you something, that's all." 

He stepped aside and Batgirl held back a choked sob. Dick and Jason were hanging from chains, feet barely touching the ground and both unconscious. Barbara didn't want to take a closer look at them- especially Dick- but she forced herself to do it anyways, they needed to know how lethal their injuries were. 

Dick was covered in blood, his clothes torn and stained with red. His head hang low and his hair covered his pale face. He was still breathing, but it was shallow and ragged and Barbara guessed he had injured his lungs and a few broken ribs. He seemed to be shivering and she could see his breath coming out in soft clouds. Barbara's breath hitched and she felt a piercing pain in her palms and she realised that she was clenching her fists too hard and that her nails were drawing blood. 

It felt like her insides was slowly freezing and her heart covered in ice. She started shivering, unable to hide it. Why would someone do that to her Dick? Seeing him so bloody and _broken_ was like a knife stabbing her heart rapidly. 

She shifted her gaze to Jason. He didn't look much better, his face was covered in bruises- most likely from a crowbar- and he had blood running down the corner of his mouth. His bangs covered his eyes and were coated in blood, the white streaks shining in a dark red colour. He looked like he had a few broken bones in his arms and legs and broken ribs, too. 

Next to her, Batman was ready to tear apart the man who had obviously tortured his sons. He would do anything for Dick, Jason, Damian and Tim, they were his everything, his light in the dark, his lifeline and his soul. 

"What do you want?" he growled deeply. The Joker laughed cruelly. "Well Batsy, you see, I want you. It was always just about you, Batman." Bruce slammed his fist on the table in an uncharacteristic fit of rage. "Just give me a straight answer." 

"Meet me at the docks at 9 pm. Then I'll tell you what I want from you." He cackled again. "And if you decide not to show up or defy my conditions, I'll make sure that your _sons_ won't live to see the next day." Then the Joker ended the call, leaving the Batcave in silence. 

"The plan still stands," said Batman darkly, turning to the team. "Joker doesn't know that we have discovered where he is holding Dick and Jason, so we have the element of surprise."   
Damian looked troubled. "He'll kill you."  
"Then so be it. If I have to die to save Jason and Dick, I will."   
He didn't see the angry, and quickly wiped away, tear that ran down Damian's cheek.


	14. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And thing turn sad.

Pain. Burning and stabbing pain. That was all he felt. That was all he knew. Richard Grayson could smell the blood, could taste the metallic liquid inside his mouth, making him feel sick. His body trembled, but he couldn't feel the cold, he was too numb to feel anything but the pain. _Pain_.

Such a little word for a feeling that could break even the strongest fighters. Dick thought he knew pain, he thought he could withstand it and not give in to it, but he overestimated himself, overestimated his limit. 

Why did it hurt so much? Why does it always have to be him? Other kids in his age would go to football games and hang out in clubs at weekends, but he wasn't like others, now was he? He was the Boy Wonder. 

But he was also Richard Grayson, a 16 year old boy who had lost his parents at the age of eight and had been taken in by the billionaire Bruce Wayne. He had learned long ago that the mask didn't make him another person, that he couldn't keep Dick Grayson and Robin separated, that the mask and cape were just that, a mask and a cape. 

The costume and 'Robin' were a part of him, but his characteristics would always stay the same, on the field as a vigilante, or at school as one of the best students.  
A constant reminder of this were his scars, marks he had as Robin and as Dick. Reminders that he could never escape his past, present and future, no matter who he pretended to be.

A quiet cought pulled him out of his gloomy thought and he fully regained consciousness- which was a bad thing, considering that the pain doubled. His breath was stuck in his throat and he squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the feeling of being pulled apart molecule by molecule. He couldn't help the quiet whimper that tore from his cracked lips. 

"Hey, Dick," croaked a quiet voice next to him. Dick carefully opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He had been moved and was now in a not so blood stained cell like his last one. He was too weak to lift his head properly, but the aching in his arms told him that he was hanging above the floor. 

He painfully turned his head to the voice that he'd heard and gasped once he saw the bruised face of his younger brother. "J-Jason?" he rasped, blinking heavily. He had trouble keeping his eyelids from dropping. 

"Hey," relied Jason, scrunching up his face in pain. "You 'kay?" Dick wanted to snort, but he quickly stopped as his throat began to burn, so he just slowly nodded his head. 

"You?" He whispered, trying not to strain his vocal cords too much. Jason just gave him a 'do you really have to ask' look, but nodded his head as well. "Joker messed up my pretty face," he mumbled, moving his lips as little as possible.

Dick's eyes travelled over Jason's face, which was purple and green from all the bruised. "Is it-" He cought, blood splattering on his lips, "Is it like last time?"   
Jason flinched barely noticeable and bit his lip. "No, not exactly." He seemed to be thinking about his next words carefully.

"The last time-" He shuddered and his eyelids dropped for a second, before he forced them open again, "I was scared, scared to d-die, but now..." He took a shaky breath and scrunched his eyebrows together in pain, "Now I am scared for you, too." The brothers locked eyes and Dick smiled slightly. "Wow, the one thing we have in common." 

Jason made a gurgling sound and Dick guessed that it was supposed to be a snort. "Yeah. That's what we all have in common. We would kill for each other-"   
"And die for each other," finished Dick his sentence. Jason nodded slightly and sighed. "I- I am not quite sure how long I can do this..." He looked down and watched as a droplet of blood fell to the floor. "Hmm," mumbled Dick, agreeing with Jason. _Hurry, Bruce. We won't last much longer._  
_

Bruce knew that he probably wouldn't survive the night, but strangely enough, he wasn't scared. He felt at ease, knowing that he could save his boys. 

"Father," said a quiet voice from the door of his bedroom. He turned his head and saw Damian awkwardly standing in the threshold. "Come in, son." Damian nodded and silently sat next to Bruce on the bed. 

For a long minute, no one said anything, but then Damian whispered, "Don't go." Bruce sighed. He had never seen Damian like this, so sad, so... lost. "I don't have a choice. I need to save Dick and Jason." 

Damian slammed his fist against the bedpost. "And what about what I need? I need you! You are all I have!" Bruce stared in shock at his son's face. He could see how hard he tried to keep the tears at bay and in situations like this, Bruce remembered that Damian was only ten years old, only a child. "It's okay to cry."  
"You never cry."

That cought Bruce off guard. He knew that he never showed much emotions, but surely the boys didn't think they needed to shut their emotions out, too, right? He sighed deeply and put one arm around his youngest and hold him close to his chest. "I do, I just never let anyone see."  
"That is what makes you strong."  
"No," corrected Bruce, "It's what makes me lonely. To keep my emotions in check when I have to protect others, like Dick and Jason now, that's what makes me strong." 

Damian took a shaky breath and looked into his father's eyes with tears finally rolling down his cheek. "You are all I have," he repeated and Bruce held him even closer to his chest. "That's not true and you know that." Damian snort humorlessly, more tears spilling out of his eyes and wetting Bruce's shirt, but the man couldn't care less. "That's not the same. You are my father. The only one blood related to me who I still trust." Bruce chuckled slightly. "What do they always say, blood is thicker than water? Well, I guess they are wrong, aren't they?" Damian hesitated for a second, then he nodded. "Yes, you are right."


	15. Chapter thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce reflects.  
> Shit's going to go down soon.

Bruce looked into the mirror as he put on the cowl. He stared at his reflection and Batman stared back at him.

That was one thing he never understood about Dick, how he could be Robin and Dick Grayson at the same time, one person. 

With the cowl, he was Batman, without it, he was Bruce Wayne. It was so much easier to keep those two parts of him separated than to allow them to become one. When he was Batman, all he had to worry about were his partners and the villains, not his problems at Wayne Enterprise, nor his poor attempts at being a good father. He could just be a dark, gloomy vigilante, a shadow, a myth, not an actual _person_. 

To his surprise- and worry- he realized that his eyes were wet. He didn't want to leave his sons, this world, Gotham. For the first time, he actually was Bruce Wayne underneath the cowl, because Batman didn't have sons, he had partners, but it was _Batman_ who was giving his life for his sons. 

He glared at his reflection and saw how his eyes dried again. He wouldn't plead, wouldn't fight back, he would take whatever the Joker had in store for him. For Dick and Jason. 

He strode out of the room and down to the Batcave. Once he saw the team, Red Robin and Damian in his new Robin suit, he stopped, still hidden by the shadows. 

"We can't just let him go! He'll get himself killed!"   
Bruce smiled sadly at his youngest son's desperate voice. He listened as Tim sighed. "We can't do anything but try to find Dick and Jason and free them, so Batman can fight the Joker without having to worry about them."   
"But-"  
"Tim is right," interrupted Batman, stepping out of the dark. 

"You'll find Dick and Jason and then you'll bring them here and patch them up."  
"But what about you?" asked Damian with a deep frown, his little hands balled into fists.   
"Yes," agreed Tim, arms crossed. "We will not just run away, while you fight the Joker. No way. The team can bring them back, but the brat and I will stay."

Bruce stared Tim in the eye, who stared right back, a challenging glint in his blue orbs. "Fine," relented Batman finally, breaking eye contact.

He glanced at the clock. 08:30 pm. "We have to go. The warehouse where Jason and Dick are held in is three houses away from the spot where I'm suppos to meet with the Joker. You have to be careful that he doesn't see you." 

Aqualad nodded. "Don't worry, Batman. We've got this. Just try to stay alive long enough for us to find Robin and Jason." The caped crusader gave a curt nod and motioned the teens to get into the Batmobile (it was very tight as they all tried to fit in the backseat).

No one said anything as the lights of Gotham raced past them. Batman took in every detail of his home city. So much had happened here. Bad things, like his parents' death, Robin and the others getting kidnapped so many times, but also good things, like taking in Dick and adopting Jason and Tim. He sighed. 

Why hadn't he adopted Dick yet, anyway? The boys always said that they were Bruce's adopted sons, even Dick, but he could see the look of hurt in his eyes every time they talked about the strange family situation. Bruce sighed. If he survived this, then he would officially adopt Dick. There was no reason as to why he hadn't done so yet. There just had been no... time.  
____________

The night was dark, clouds covering the moon. The only sound was the soft splashing of water against the pier.

They had reached the docks a few minutes ago and Batman had said goodbye to Damian and Tim. They both had been at the verge of tears, but they were strong, they could do this. After Damian had- to Tim's surprise- hugged Bruce half to death (not literally, of course), he had told them to go and start searching for Dick and Jason. 

Now he stood alone, watching the small waves as they reflected the pale light the moon was giving, barley visible through the veil of clouds. Usually, he would have enjoyed the dark, but now it felt threatening. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the smell of the salt water. 

He stood like this for a few minutes, eyes closed and body stiff, until the clicking of a gun pulled him out of his stupor. He slowly turned around, facing the man in front of him. The scarred red lips twisted into a smug smirk.   
"Joker." Batman's voice was calm, no sign of fear or regret. "Where are Robin and Red Hood?"   
He cackled. "Don't worry, Batsy. Once you do as I say, I will let them go. But I need to ask, what's up with you and Hood? You two good, trying to kill each other, beating the kid, I can never tell what your deal is. Meh, whatever. Doesn't matter anyway." 

He raised the gun, pointing it at Bruce's head. The man didn't make a move, just stared into the madman's eyes.  
"Shoot," he growled, his heart beating at a normal rate. He wasn't afraid to die. He never has been.   
As the Joker didn't move, Batman intensified his glare. "Shoot," he snarled once again. 

Suddenly, the Joker burst out laughing, slightly lowering the gun and holding his stomach with his free hand. "You're so funny, Batsy."

He pointed the gun at Batman's head once again, sobering up in the matter of milliseconds, and slowly walked around him. Bruce didn't so much as twitch as he felt the cold metal against the back of his head. "There is more then one way to die, Batman," whispered the crazy voice of the Joker, chuckling. "Before I end this, we should pay a visit to your sons, wouldn't you agree?"


	16. Chapter fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Joker makes his move

Artemis and Kaldur had thought of a plan to make sure the Justice League wouldn't lose one of their founding members (that the Batkids wouldn't lose their father). They had left the team on their way to the warehouse and ran back to the docks, staying out of Joker's and Batman's sight. They had decided to stay guard at the docks, though things had gotten a lot more complicated right about now.

"I am just waiting to hear a gunshot," muttered Aqualad, glancing at his companion. The blonde archer nodded her head. "Yeah. We should be doing something. This is... shit, we have never been this close to actually losing one of us."   
Kaldur sighed mournfully. He wasn't close to Batman- none of them except for Robin were- but they still considered him... a part of the team? A mentor? He sighed again and ran a hand through his short hair.

"We can't do anything but watch and hope for the team to find Robin and Red Hood. If you were in his place and your sons would have been kidnapped and tor-" he choked. That was still Robin they were talking about, their cute, little, carefree bird- "if they had been abused, what would you do?" Artemis looked away, clenching her fists in anger. "I'd do everything to get them back."   
"Exac-"

Suddenly, Artemis clamed a hand over his mouth, signalling him to be quiet, and pointed to their right. Aqualad narrowed his eyes to see in the darkness that had covered up so many crimes. He and Artemis were hidden by shadows, so they quietly observed the scene that played out in front of them.

The Joker was holding Batman at gunpoint, forcing him to walk in front of the villain. Aqualad gasped quietly. "Where are they going?" he whispered, motioning for Artemis to follow them.

She shrugged and jumped on one of the many windowsills without making a sound. She climbed until she reached the roof of the warehouse and looked down to see Aqualad following her lead. A second later, he stood next to her.

"Could you warn me the next time you decide to pull a stunt like that?" He muttered.  
Artemis grinned. "Had a hard time keeping up with me?" He just rolled his eyes and looked back down, searching for the Joker. "There." He pointed at the green-haired man.   
"Can you hear what they are saying?" asked Artemis, standing dangerously close to the edge. "Hm," he mumbled, staining his ears. Sadly, enhanced hearing was not part of the Atlantean power package, but they were close enough to at least hear snippets of their conversation.

"C'mon, Batsy, aren't you excited to see the little Birdie and Hoodie again?"   
Aqualad couldn't see Batman's face, but he was sure that the hero was glaring daggers in the dark. "If you want to kill me, then don't do it in front of my partners." That bone chilling laugh escaped the Joker's scarred lips once again. "Don't be so impatient, dummy. Just wait for what I've planned for you and your little brats."

Artemis grabbed Kaldur's arm, her voice panicked. "The team is in the warehouse. We have to get them out before the Joker sees them." Aqualad nodded and they quietly slipped through one of the broken windows.

' _Guys'_ called Artemis through the mind link, her worry infiltrating everyone's mind. _'What is it,_ _Arty_ _?'_ questioned Wally, clearly concerned for his girlfriend. _'The Joker is bringing Batman to Robin's and Red Hood's_ _location_ _to kill him in front of them'_ explained Artemis, straight to the point as usual. She bit her lip as she felt the rage that came from Damian and Tim in waves. _'We've_ _got_ _to follow them and stop that maniac'_ growled Red Robin, gritting his teeth.

He was so going to kill that bastard for ever messing with his family. He'd make him pay for ever touching Dick and Jason. He'd make him suffer for ever killing Jason all those years ago.   
______

Dick didn't know when they had been lowered to the floor or by whom, but he welcomed the less painful position. His arms weren't aching too much and his head didn't throb as painful as the last time he had been awake.

But he was still in agony. His wounds had stopped bleeding, but he didn't even try to move, because he was pretty sure that the crust that covered the knife slashes and the skin that broke when the Joker had hit him with the crowbar- Dick really started to understand why Jason hated those things- would break and he'd start bleeding like a waterfall again, a really bloody waterfall.

He sighed softly and tried to get back to the merciful sleep that allowed him to escape the pain that raced through his whole body.

"Dick?" muttered a weak voice from behind him. "Are you awake?" The boy licked his dry, cracked lips. "Hm. You holding up, Jay?" he asked, eyes still closed. He was so tired, but Jason had sounded so relieved that he wasn't alone anymore that Dick just couldn't ignore him.

"Yea','m fine." Dick could see straight through his lie.   
"Don' lie t' me."  
"Like you did when you said you were fine?"   
"That's different."  
"How?"

Dick didn't know how to reply. His brother had a point. "Don't tell the others 'bout my scars, Jaybird. Promise."  
"Why?"  
"'m the youngest of the team an' I don' have any powers. I can't allow m'self to appear weak."

He heard a low chuckle. "I thought you were s'pposed to be the smart one, Dick." He could imagine Jason rolling his eyes at him.   
"What's tha's'pposed to mean," he mumbled, still fighting to finally open his crystal blue orbs. He was just so tired.

"Scars don' make you weak. They just show that you've been through things n'one should have gone through an' survived it. Yes, they remind you- me, too- of the pain, the death, but try to remember that you'r' still here. Don't be ashamed to show who you are, Dick, because the scars are a part of you, whether you like it or not. They tell the story of your life, the ups and downs throughout all this mess."

Dick was silent for a moment. "You're smarter than you look, Jay."   
"I know."  
Dick mentally rolled his eyes, but a small smile tugged at his lips.

"If you truly believe in what you've just said, th'n why're you always wearing long sleeve shirts?"   
"You noticed?"   
Dick could hear the guarded tone in his younger brother's voice.   
"You didn' answer m' question."  
"I- You were strong, through whatever happened to you. You survived, I didn't. My scars don't show strength, they just show defeat."   
"Says the one who's lying right... behind me, I guess. I can't open my eyes, so..."  
Again the dry chuckle. "You know what I mean. I died. I... gave up."   
Dick sighed. "Don't we all at one point?"

Jason didn't answer. "Let's make a deal," he finally said. Dick agreed sceptically and Jason continued. "When we get out of here, we'll both stop hiding our scars, deal?"  
Dick smiled slightly. "Deal."   
Since when Jason could be sensitive, he didn't know, but he liked that new side of him.

He froze when he heard the door open. Batman's training had taught him how to appear calm and collected, even if he was scared or hurt, like now. His heart beat rapidly, but his breathing was regular. The breath on the back of his neck told him that Jason was doing the same. "Wakey, wakey, Bird boys. Big old daddy is hear to say hello."

Dick stiffed as he heard that Bruce was there and he could hear the Joker cackle. "I knew you were awake. Come on, Bird Brain, open those baby blue eyes of yours." As Dick didn't reply, the Joker crouched down next to him, gun still pointed at Batman, even though Dick couldn't see that. "If you don't obey, Robin, I'll make sure you lose another parent."

Dick gritted his teeth. He slowly opened his eyes, even if he had trouble focusing on the face in front of him. "That's a good boy." He patted Dick's head like a parent or teacher would and Dick grimaced in disgust.

"Now to the other boy!" said the Joker excitedly, clapping his hands.   
"No need to yell, old man, 'm already awake," muttered Jason, struggling to open his eyes as well.

"Yay, family reunion," squealed the Joker. He grabbed Dick by the shoulders and yanked him in a sitting position. Dick yelped in pain as he felt a few cuts reopening and squeezed his eyes shut. He could hear Batman's growl as he was propped up against the wall. He breathed heavily as he tried to get the pain under control. Next to him, he could hear Jason grunt as the Joker sat him against the wall as well.

"Now," said the Joker, motioning Batman to step forward with a wave of his gun. "Dear Batsy here has agreed to... how do I put it? Help me out here, will you, Batman?"

Batman growled as he slowly turned his face to look at the maniac. "I agreed to do whatever it takes to get Robin and Red Hood away from you." His voice was cold and unwavering.   
"Yes, yes, right, how smart you are!" chirped the Joker, giggling like mad. "Now I remember." Then he smirked. "Ready to hold up your part of the deal?"

Bruce glanced at Dick and Jason. He hated to see them hurt, but he hated the shocked and desperate looks on their faces even more as they shook their heads. "Yes," he said, giving all his attention to his soon to be killer, trying to ignore his sons' pleadings. "Do what you have to do." The Joker looked at him for a second, then he burst out laughing, clutching his stomach, his whole body wracked with manic giggles. "Oh, that was a good one. I didn't know you could be so funny! You thought I was going to kill you?! I already told you there is more than one way to die."

He regained his composure and held the gun at Batman's face once more, craziness glistening in his eyes. Then he turned the weapon around, so the handle was facing the vigilante. "Kill me," he said. "Kill me and your sons walk free, defy me and they'll die. It's your choice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, did any of you see that coming?


	17. Chapter fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason´s experiencing some serious deja-vu... and he´s so not happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are flashbacks

Jason wasn't sure what to feel. Glee that the Joker would finally leave this world? Anger, because of the hesitation in Bruce's eyes? Sympathy for his former father figure, because Jason knew far too well what it meant to cross that line? But one emotion was crossing all the others out: anticipation.   
He got that Bruce hadn't killed the Joker when Jason gave him the ultimatum back when he had first revealed himself, but now, in this situation... Bruce didn't have a choice, right? It was either him and Dick or Bruce's own morals.

He didn't dare breath. Everything seemed frozen. He could feel Dick's unease next to him.   
Jason knew that, if Batman did kill the Joker, he would be broken, falling into a darkness he couldn't escape from. And even if Jason wished more than anything that the Joker would finally meet his fucking end, he also knew that Bruce wouldn't be the only one broken.  
Dick, Tim and Damian would lose their father, their hero and mentor.   
He followed Joker's movements with his eyes, as the villain pushed the gun into Batman's hand harder. " _Do. It._ "

"No." The gun slid across the floor and Batman shook his head. "I am not killing you."  
There it was again, the cold laugh that send chills down the anti-hero's spine. "Oh, believe me, you will."   
He took out two other guns. _Where the_ _hell_ _does he hide all those things?!_

He handed one to Batman once again, who was about to drop it, but hesitated as the Joker pointed the other gun at Jason's head. "I told you the rules, Batsy." His voice, so cold and emotionless made Jason shiver. He couldn't die, not again, Bruce couldn't let him die, not when he had the chance to actually save him this time. He wouldn't. He couldn't. _(Please don't let him do this to me again.)_   
Jason couldn't bear the thought of having to crawl out of his own grave again, the feeling of suffocating and his fingernail splitting and the panic choking him... he didn't want to be lost in that eternal... darkness, he just couldn't!

He looked up at his father and gulped down a forming lump in his throat, blinking away tears. He was just glad no one could see him cry through the domino mask.

"Kill me, or they die." Joker's finger hovered above the trigger and Bruce strengthened his grip the weapon that had been forced into his hands.

Jason couldn't breath. He felt his heart squeezing painfully as he stared at the gun that was ponied at his head. He usually wasn't afraid of guns, or being held at gunpoint, but... this the Joker, he could deal with everything but the Joker. His breath hitched as he stared at the yellow teeth Joker's grin was showing. He knew that grin, remembered it clearly.

_The crowbar hit his chin with a sickening crack and Jason bit his lip to stop himself from screaming, but he couldn't help the pained grunt that escaped his throat as he fell to the side, his weak knees unable_ _to_ _support_ _him any longer._

_It hurt. It hurt so bad. Where was Batman? Why wasn't he here, kicking Joker's butt and telling Jason that everything was going to be okay?_

_"Wow. That looked_ _like_ _it really hurt." Jason growled inwardly at the glee and satisfaction in his_ _tormentors_ _voice._   
_That sick bastard._   
_He felt like he couldn't breath, his lungs_ _constricting_ _inside_ _his chest. He_ _coughed_ _and_ _red_ _stained his chin,_ _dripping_ _down his neck. He was bleeding internally._

_Jason felt fear squeeze his heart tightly, holding it in an ice-cold_ _grip_ _. He didn't want to die, not now, not like this, not_ alone _, but he wouldn't plead with the Joker, not in a thousand years._

_He weakly glared up at_ _the_ _villain_ _hovering_ _above him, the bloodied_ _crowbar_ _firmly_ _clutched_ _in one hand. The Joker_ _grinned_ _, a_ _grin that promised more pain, anguish and torture, a grin that would forever be seared into his mind._

Joker's laugh rang threw the cell and Batman gripped the gun even tighter as he saw the agonized expression on his son' face. Bruce didn't want to know what was going on inside Jason's head right now. This must be like a horrible déjà-vu for him.   
Bruce had had his own fair share of horrors over the years, but Jason was only fifteen and had recently _died_ , by the same man's hands who was now threatening to take his life once again.

Dick was looking at Jason with wide eyes, his pale face slack, and Bruce wondered what the brothers had gone through, what had happened to his sons while he had been unable to do anything. The Joker grinned wickedly. "Looks like the little Pumpkin is stuck in some sort of flashback. _Heh_ , wonder what about?"

_Another blow from the_ _crowbar_ _, more blood and more pain, and_ _Jason_ _was struggling to_ _get_ _enough air in his lungs. He grunted and squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the next blow. Metal_ _collided_ _with his soft skin and blood_ _dripped_ _to the floor like water. Another agonized grunt._

_Why_ _wouldn't_ _he stop? Or just kill him? Jason_ _had_ _had_ _enough_ _, okay, he got it. He was weak, not good enough._   
_And where was Batman? Shouldn't he be here by_ _now_ _?_

_The next blow was harder than the others and Jason bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. He didn't want to_ _scream_ , _but_ _it was hard, so damn hard_ _. He tried to move, but a searing pain flared threw his chest. A broken rib, maybe more. He_ _blinked_ _away the treacherous tears._ _Where_ _the hell_ _was Batman? Where was Bruce? He had promised_ _he'd_ _always_ _protect him._

_He squeezed his eyes shut_ _in_ _an_ _attempt_ _to ease the pain, but only ended up_ _co_ _ughing_ _up_ _blood, again. The broken rib had probably punctured a lung, blood_ _infiltrating_ _his windpipe. He laid on his back,_ _which_ _made it even harder to breath, but he couldn't bring_ _himself_ _to turn to the side._

_He knew_ _that_ _he needed to get the blood out, or he'd suffocate, but he couldn't move, eyes_ _fixed_ _on his captor and body frozen, if in pain_ _or_ _fear, he didn't_ _know_ _. He breathed_ _heavily_ _,_ _as the clown spoke up_ _once_ _more. "Oh, now hang on, that looked like it hurt a lot more." There was that devilish smile again and Jason_ _shuddered_ _at the anticipation in his voice. He knew that the Joker would put_ _him_ _through_ _horrible_ __ _pain before this was_ _going_ _to end._

_Jason's eyes followed Joker's movements as he tapped the_ _crowbar_ _against_ _his_ _hand_. _"So_ _, let's try to clear this up, okay, Pumpkin? What hurts more, A-" Jason screamed as the crowbar shattered his collarbone. His eyes glazed over for a moment as the pain was too much, but then he took a shaky breath and tried to pull_ _himself_ _together._

_Bruce would come. He always did._ _"-or_ _B?" A blow to his lower stomach and the air was forced out of him. For a_ _terrifying_ _moment, he couldn't breath. It was all too much, the pain, the blood, the_ _**laughter.** _   
_But he knew that the Joker_ _wouldn't_ _just kill him, not without Batman there to see it happen._

_He was pulled out of_ _his_ _thoughts_ _by_ _another_ _blow with the crowbar to the side of his head. "Forehand-" A strike to his cheek. "Or_ _backhand_?" _Jason moaned in pain as he felt his cheekbone shatter. He couldn't move his_ _face_ _without jolts of pain cursing through_ _his_ _body. He wanted_ _it_ _to end, one way or another. Another blow to his shoulder and he heard a_ _sickening_ _pop. He tried to bite the_ _inside_ _of his cheek to stop_ _the_ _agonized scream from escaping his cracked and blood-stained lips, but only ended up in even_ _more_ _pain._

_Then he heard the laughter. The cold,_ _maniacal_ _and cruel_ _laughter_ _._

Batman pointed his gun at Joker's head. He wouldn't let Jason die, never again. He owed it to him. Bruce didn't even want to know what the Joker had done to him before that bomb went off, but the body was... Well, it told Batman everything he needed to know. And the autopsy report... Jason had been tortured. Viciously.

Joker cackled and pushed the gun closer to Jason's temple, crouching down in front of him. "Not so cocky anymore, right, Baby Hood?"  
"I just don't want to waist my breath on you," came the growled response. Batman swallowed hard. Jason sounded far away, as if his mind was somewhere else entirely.

_Jason laid on his stomach, his hands_ _painfully_ _bound behind his back. His_ _shoulder_ _s_ _ached. He slowly managed to turn to the_ _side_ _. It hurt, but Jason hadn't given up, not yet. "Fuck you," he mumbled, his eyes swirling_ _with_ _a mixture of emotions, like a_ _hurricane_ _._

The Joker laughed and stood back up. "You haven't lost your fire. Yet."

_The_ _Clown_ _Prince_ _of_ _C_ _rime_ _kneeled_ _down next to Jason's head_ _and made choking sounds to mock the bird. He grabbed his raven_ _coloured_ _hair and whispered_ _maliciously_ _, "A little louder, Lambchop, I think you may have a_ _collapsed_ _lung, that always impedes the_ _oratories_ _." Jason growled at the mockery. He smirked_ _slightly_ _as he pulled blood and salvia to the front of his mouth and spit it with all his might at the white face of his torturer._

Batman growled as Joker punched Jason in the face and his head jerked back against the wall. He groaned and let his head loll to the side, body sacking. Batman put his finger on the trigger. "Don't you dare touch him again."

 _Bad idea. Joker's face contorted in rage and he grabbed Jason's hair in an iron-like grip and slammed his head on the ground. Jason yelped in pain and_ _suppressed_ _a pitiful whimper. The floor pressed painfully into his_ _broken_ _cheekbone and he gritted his teeth._

_He could_ _almost_ _feel his hope and_ _will_ _slowly_ _fading_ _away. Why hadn't Bruce come yet? Didn't he care at all?_   
_A movement snapped him out of his_ _thoughts_ _. "Now that was rude. The first Boy Blunder had some manners." Joker_ _wiped_ _the mix of gore and saliva off his_ _face_ _and glared at Jason, who smirked at the green haired clown, blood running down the corner of his mouth. The maniac scrunched his eyebrows together, as if he was thinking about_ _something_ _._

_"I_ _suppose_ _I am going to have to teach_ _you_ _a lesson so you can better follow in his footsteps." Then he made a grimace that was probably supposed to be an or-not face_ _and_ _said, "Nah, I am just gonna keep beating you with this_ _crowbar_ _." He but a_ _foot_ _on Jason's back to keep him in place. Jason stared at him_ _defiantly_ _and when Joker raised his crowbar, he closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Bruce wouldn't come._

Dick tried to swallow the forming lump in his throat. He felt so useless. A gun was held in Jason's face, Bruce was conflicted between saving them and keeping his morals and the Joker was laughing senselessly.   
He didn't know what to do, but he knew he wasn't just going to let his family fall apart because of some clown with homicidal issues.

 _Joker opened the door of the warehouse and the cold wind made Jason shiver. The villain had continued beating him_ _for_ _what felt like hours. He had lost track of how many broken bones he had and if he even did as much as twitch a finger, his whole body would erupt in burning pain. He didn't cry_ _though_ _, he refused to._  
" _Okay, kiddo. I gotta go. It's been fun, all right?" As Jason didn't reply, he shrugged. "Well, maybe a smidge more fun for me_ _than_ _you. I_ _can_ _only guess since you are being_ _awful_ _quiet. Anyway, be a good boy, finish your homework and be in bed by nine and hey, please tell the big man I said 'hello'." A shudder ran down Jason's spine. Something was_ _defenitifly_ _going on. The door shut with a loud and_ _awful_ _concluding sound._

Jason squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to forget the memories. He knew what would come.

_Even after the door had closed, the_ _hurt_ _bird could still hear the sadistic laughter echoing through his_ _ears_ _, driving him_ _crazy_ _. He took a_ _shuddery_ _and painful breath_ _and_ _slowly peeled his eyes open._

_Jason rolled on his back, teeth gritted together, then_ _he_ _rolled backwards and put his_ _head_ _on the cool ground, lingering in that position for a second, trying to catch his_ _breath_ _._ _God_ _, it_ **_hurt._ ** _He pulled his feet through his bound hands to get the handcuffs in front of him. He smiled_ _slightly_ _at the small victory. He wasn't totally_ _defensless_ _after all. He_ _slowly_ _rose to his feet, hunched_ _over_ _and trying to keep his balance. He took a_ _shaky_ _step, but his broken legs couldn't hold his_ _weight_ _and he fell with a muffled scream._

_He stayed on the ground for a moment, gathering his remaining_ _strength_ _and began to crawl over to the door, his eyes shining with determination. He would not_ _just_ _bleed out. After what felt like forever, he finally reached the metallic door. A_ _spark_ _of hope_ _ignited_ _inside of him. Maybe he_ _could_ _get out, maybe the Joker had_ _underestimated_ _him._

_His hope was soon crushed as he found the door locked. "No," he muttered, pressing his_ _back_ _against the cold metal, injuring himself even more, but he didn't care, he needed to get_ **_out._ ** _With a heavy sight, he realised that he couldn't force the door open. He looked at all the blood he'd lost, the blood that stained_ _the_ _floor. Then he_ _heard_ _it._

Jason had begun to tremble, held captive in the flashback. Dick and Bruce glanced at each other in panic, not knowing what exactly was going on. Joker just smirked in satisfaction at the impact he had on the boy.

Dick's stomach churned as he saw the look the clown gave his little brother. Said maniac smirked. "Last chance, Batsy." Batman trembled ever so slightly, only his hand didn't. He held the gun directly at Joker's temple, but didn't pull the trigger. He just couldn't. Joker's gun was still aimed at Jason and Dick knew that one of them had to pull the trigger soon.

_A bomb. The Joker had left him with a_ _fucking_ _bomb._

_Tick._

_Come on, Bruce, hurry. Please. I know you can make it in time, you always do._

_Tick._

_Please hurry up. I don't want to_ _die_ _. Not like this. Where are you?_

_Tick._

_Dick, Bruce, whoever is looking for me. Please find me. Now._

_Tick._

_They'll come, they'll come. He'll come. He always does._

_Tick._

_Hurry. Please hurry._ _Why_ _aren't_ _you_ _here yet?_

_Tick._

_Everything hurts. You promised, Bruce. Promised you'd always come in time_ _!_

_Tick._

_WHERE ARE YOU!? Please hurry. I need you._

_Tick._

_No, no, no. Why aren't you coming? You promised!_

_Tick._

_I'm sorry_ _, Bruce._

_Boom!_

Bang! A shot rang through the cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who pulled the trigger?


	18. Chapter sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team has a bad time (ft. fear gas)

Bruce dropped the gun. The _unused_ gun. He felt like he couldn't breath as panic swelled up inside him.

Joker's eyes were wide and starting to glaze over. His hands gingerly touched the steadily growing red circle on his chest. His breath got ragged and he started coughing. A red drop appeard on his lips, then another and another.

Jason couldn't breath. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened. His mouth was opened in a shocked 'O'.

Joker's legs gave away and he fell with a surprised sound, a laugh and scream at the same time. This was not what he had expected, but a win either way he looked at it, maybe even better.

Dick shook. What had he done. His hands trembled and he felt cold, so cold.

Bruce's eyes found Dick's.

Jason fixed his gaze on the gun that slowly fell out of Dick's grip.   
The gun Batman had thrown away earlier.

The doors were pushed open and the Young Justice team, Batgirl, Red Robin and Robin, who had heard the gunshot, entered, looking slightly beaten up. "Scarecrow is down."

Then eight eyes landed on the bleeding man on the ground.

Silence.

"What happened?"

There were three guns. One next to Batman, one next to Dick and one next to Jason, dropped from Joker's still warm hand.

"Who..."

"I did it."

Everyone snapped their heads in Batman's direction. "I killed him."

The words sounded muffled in Dick's ears. He had killed. Dick had killed someone. He had crossed that line. His breath quickened and he began to panic.   
What would everyone think of him, what would _Bruce_ think?

Warm hands were on his arm. "It's okay, Dicky-bird." Only a whisper. "Bruce took the blame." Jason's voice sounded far away.

He began to tremble harder, eyes unfocused. "No." Barely loud enough for Jason to hear. A whimper. "I didn't aim for... I didn't want to... That's not..."

Then everything went black and Dick slumped against Jason, who winced at the extra pressure on his chest, but put his arms around his brother nevertheless, pulling him as close as possible.

Jason knew that things would change now, Dick would change. But he would be there for every step of the way.

_Thirty minutes earlier with the team:_

The team met a few minutes after Artemis had warned them that the Joker was advancing on their location and were now discussing what to do. Red Robin, Batgirl and Robin- it was still weird for Artemis to call anyone but _their_ Robin Robin- wanted to follow Joker and Batman, so they would lead them straight to Dick and Jason, not caring about possible consequences, but Aqualad was reasoning against them.

"It's too dangerous. None of us are bullet proof, except for Superboy, and he and Kid Flash are also the only ones who would be fast enough to dodge a bullet." Damian crossed his arms and growled, "We are very much capable of dodging bullets. I was trained by the League of Assassins and by the Batman himself, so do not underestimate me."

Aqualad didn't flinch at the mini bat-glare directed his way. "Robin got shot, too and he trained longer than you." Damian's glare intensified. "If you do not intend to find my br- Grayson and Todd, then step out of the way, because I will not hesitate to hurt you if you try to stop me."

Tim rolled his eyes, shifting his weight slightly as he laid a hand on Damian's shoulder, who shrugged it off. "Don't touch me," he hissed, teeth bared. Tim wasn't fazed. "Could you stop fighting. The Demon Spawn and I will go, whether you like it or not. You can either help us, or turn a blind eye and do nothing as your _teammate_ gets killed." There was a clear warning in his tone. He would stop at nothing to get to his brothers and if the team stood in his way, then he'd take them down, too.

Aqualad pursed his lips, but before he could say anything, Wally decided to stop this argument. "We will all go, no discussion. Rob would do the same for us." Aqualad agreed reluctantly. It was not like he didn't want to save Dick and Jason, he just didn't want anyone else to get hurt. He was the leader after all, so he had the responsibility to keep his team save. He would always give his own life, but he knew that that wasn't an option, not now.

They were so caught up in their discussion, that they didn't hear the quiet _pffff_ of eight smoke bombs releasing their toxic content into the room. When they did notice, it was already too late.

"Why the hell is it getting misty?!" panicked Wally, stepping away from the white gas nervously, his feet twitching as if to say 'We are ready to run at any second.'

Artemis narrowed her eyes to see through the thickening fog while notching an arrow. Her eyes landed on one of the bombs where the gas had been kept in. She quickly pressed her lips together and hold her breath as she read the initials carved into the metal. JC/FG. "Everybody, don't breath! This is fear gas!" she screamed, drawing back the string of her bow and scanned the room to look for an exit, but the fog was too thick now and she wasn't able too see more than what was right in front of her. She could feel her heart beating rapidly and her lungs began to protest, demanding for air. She took a few steps back, but tripped over something, falling to the floor with a yelp, inhaling the toxin in the process. Then she saw nothing.

 _Artemis_ _opened her eyes and took a deep,_ _hasty_ _breath. Her head was throbbing and she_ _gently_ _messaged her temples, looking around. She frowned once she saw that she was standing on a building, looking down at the deserted streets of Gotham._  
 _She_ _seemed almost..._ _peaceful_ _._

_The_ _light_ _of the moon_ _illuminating_ _the_ _city_ _, the dark_ _night_ _bright_ _through_ _the_ _stars, it created a_ _safe_ _, comfortable atmosphere_ _. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She_ _slightly_ _turned_ _her head at the familiar voice. "_ _Hm_ _,"_ _s_ _he_ _hummed_ _in agreement, not_ _taking_ _her_ _eyes off_ _the city. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be out_ _with_ _Batman?"_

_Robin_ _stood_ _next to her, his gaze catching every little movement in_ **_his_ ** _city._ _He_ _didn't answer her, just smiled sadly. Artemis frowned. Something was off about him, she just couldn't quite place a finger on it._

_Robin plopped down on the ledge of the roof and let his feet_ _dangle_ _over the edge. He didn't face her as she sat down beside him, his_ _face_ _was hidden by his raven_ _black_ _hair. "I don't want to leave," he whispered._

_Artemis arched her eyebrow in confusion. "Why would you leave?" He cocked his head to the side over so_ _slightly_ _, as if he wanted to look at her, but something was holding him back. "They fell, you_ _know_ _. I love being in the air, flying around Gotham,_ _jumping_ _from rooftop to rooftop. It's the_ _only_ _place where I actually feel_ _safe_ _, but at the same time, it's the only thing I'm_ _terrified_ _of. Dying like they did. Falling."_

_Artemis didn't need to ask who he was talking about, she just_ _knew_ _. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, shivering at how cold he felt. "You don't wear the name Robin for_ _nothing_ _. Birds don't fall, you've proven that the night your parents died. You never fell and you never will. I know you and I_ _believe_ _in you." She smiled and gave his shoulder an encouraging_ _squeeze_ _. "Thank you." He paused for a second. "I won't fall, I won't fail... but you will."_

_Artemis froze, her_ _heart_ _forgetting_ _to beat for a second. "What?"_ _s_ _he_ _asked_ _sharply, taking her hand away. "You'll fail,_ _Artemis_ _. That's what you're_ _afraid_ _of,_ _isn't_ _it? Failing everyone, becoming just like your father and sister. Failing the team, betraying them. That's what you're afraid of and that's why you'll fail." She tried to_ _swallow_ _, but her muscles didn't listen to her. "Why are you saying that?"_

_The corners_ _of_ _his_ _lips_ _twitched and Artemis slowly stood up,_ _backing_ _away from the still sitting Boy Wonder. "You're strong, Artemis, but you are denying who you are."_   
_"I am_ **_not_ ** _like them." She had finally recovered_ _from_ _her shock and_ _anger_ _replaced her confusion. Her eyes were_ _cold_ _and her voice laced with ice. "And whatever you say won't change that, so back off." Robin shook his head, pushing himself off_ _the_ _ground_ _, his back still facing_ _her_ _. "You aren't_ _listening_ _, Artemis. You aren't like them, but you still let them control you. You are afraid that if you even make one mistake, or step out of line the tiniest bit, the team will kick you out,_ _that_ _they'll_ _think that you are just like_ _the_ _rest of your family, not trustworthy. But if you want_ _them_ _to trust you, you have to trust_ _them_ _first_ _."_

_Artemis blinked._ _She_ _didn't know what to say. Was it true, did she really not trust the team enough to actually be herself? Did she even knew who she really was? "They will accept you the way you are, because-" suddenly, he_ _began_ _to cough and toppled over, clutching his chest. Artemis was pulled out of her stupor and ran to his side, catching_ _him_ _before he could fall and slowly lowered him to the ground._

_"Robin?!"_ _s_ _he_ _cried, gently rubbing soothing circles on his back, looking around for_ _anyone_ _to help, but there was_ _no one_ _in_ _sight_ _. A_ _coughing_ _fit ragged his body again and Artemis took his hand in_ _hers_ _, but recoiled as she felt something_ _sticky_ _and warm on her fingers._ _Blood_ _. Her stomach churned and she began to panic._

_"Robin! What is wrong?!" He lifted his head, his eyes still_ _covered_ _by his_ _midnight_ _black bangs. Artemis almost gagged as he grinned, blood running down his chin and_ _dropping_ _to the floor. "You'll fail if you hold yourself back." His face twisted and he bit his lip;_ _hard_ _. "Robin? Robin?!"_

_"Back," he gasped out,_ _caughing_ _again and staining Artemis' green suit. The archer quickly stood up a bit taller and pulled back Robin's shirt. She covered her mouth_ _as_ _a long, ragged cut appeared, running from his left shoulder blade to_ _his_ _right hip bone. "Oh God, what is_ _happening_ _?" She looked back at her friend's_ _face_ _. "I am dying."_   
_"What?! B-but why?!"_

_Her breath quickened and she started to hyperventilate. This couldn't be happening. She was right there,_ _but_ _unable to do anything. She was_ **_failing_ ** _. She ran her already_ _blood_ _red_ _hands_ _over her face, leaving red marks on_ _her_ _mask. "Blood on_ _you_ _hands," squeezed Robin out, smirking up at her. "My blood."_

_Artemis_ _dropped to her knees, hugging her legs close to her chest, just like she did when she was a little girl, hiding from her father. She was a_ _failure_ _, he had told her that_ _over_ _and over again, until she finally believed it._ _"No_ _,_ _no_ _, no, no," she muttered,_ _rocking_ _herself_ _back and forth. Her hands shook as_ _she_ _pulled at her hair, the only_ _sound_ _being her_ _ragged_ _breathing_ _and Robin's_ _blood dripping on the floor_ _. "Pull_ _yourself_ _together_ _."_

_She looked up with_ _watery_ _eyes. "What?" she whispered, shocked at what she saw. The blood had_ _disappeared_ _from Robin and he stood at the_ _edge_ _of the_ _building_ _once again, but he wasn't_ _wearing_ _his usual Robin costume, instead, he wore the same outfit he'd worn during their mission at_ _Haly's_ _Circus. A performer's suit._

_"Dick," she whispered, whipping away the tears,_ _smearing_ _both, tears and blood on her forest green mask. "What are you doing?"_   
_He smiled at her and his crystal blue orbs_ _shone_ _softly in the city's_ _light_ _. And then it hit her what had been so strange about him the whole time. He wasn't_ _wearing_ _a mask!_

_"Safe me."_   
_Artemis_ _tried_ _to stand up,_ _but her legs felt like jelly_ _and_ _she had to support herself on_ _the_ _wall. "What do you_ _mean_ _?" Dick stepped closer to the edge. "Don't!" yelled_ _Artemis_ _as she took a step forward. "You can still do it, Arty. Just_ _remember_ _what_ _I've told you."_

_"Why are you_ _doing_ _this?" She was close to tears, but none would fall._   
_"Me? You are doing this to yourself. I am just an image of your_ _subconsciousness_ _._ _I'm not_ _real."_

_And then he jumped. Artemis screamed and lunged_ _forward_ _, her fingertips brushing Dick's, but she was too late. Time seemed to freeze_ _around_ _her, her heart stopping... then she heard the sickening crack of shattering bones and the smell of blood filled the_ _air_ _once more. And Artemis screamed._

Her eyes flew open and she looked around in panic. Her heart was racing and she felt like she'd been run over by a truck, or a hundred trucks. She suppressed the urge to groan in pain and closed her eyes once again, calming herself down by counting to ten and taking deep and steady breath. After she reached ten, she slowly blinked her eyes open, but didn't move. She knew that Scarecrow had to be near by.

She tightened her grip around her bow which she hadn't let go during her nightmare. She glanced around, but kept her head still, feigning unconsciousness. It was hard to see through the gas, even if it was slowly fading away, so she concentrated on her other senses. She could hear the quiet whimpers of her friends and scowled deeply. She hated fear gas.

And then she heard it, a quiet and dark chuckled, coming from her right. She smirked inwardly as she slowly, careful not to alert the man, moved her bow with the already notched arrow. She breathed in threw her nose and released the air through her mouth again as she steadied the bow. Artemis still hadn't moved her head, but she could see Scarecrow from the corner of her eyes and she could hear his insane chuckles.

And then she fired the arrow. She heard wailing and quickly jumped to her feet, even if she felt a bit dizzy thanks to the gas that still hadn't fully vanished. She slowly and carefully walked over to a knocked out Dr. Crane, who was snoring on the ground. "Tranquilizer arrows are more effective than I thought." She kicked his side, but he didn't response, only turned over and curled in a ball, continuing to snore loudly. "Disgusting," she muttered.

Then she walked over to the other teens and tried to wake them up. It took some time, but in the end, everyone was alive and kickin'. A bit shaken up, but no one would suffer any permanent damage.

"I officially hate fear gas," announced Wally, running his hands up and down his trembling arms. Tim nodded. "Yeah, defenitifly not my favorite weapon to be used against me, but you'll get used to it." The team looked at him sceptically, but Tim just shrugged. "I am taking from experience here, it gets better."

And then they heard the gunshot.


	19. Chapter seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Bruce have a heart-to-heart and Dick has a panick attack (kinda... he basically passes out)

Castor, Joker's son, crouched down at the edge of a rooftop. His eyes scanned his surroundings, his ears listening for the slightest sounds. He smirked as he heard a _bang_ from a few warehouses to his left. Every other person wouldn't have been able to detect the sound, but Castor wasn't normal, he was trained.

That was the main difference between him and his father. The Joker's power laid within his tricks and traps, not martial arts. Castor was a master of both.

He smirked as he saw the heroes come out of the building. Aqualad was carrying a knocked out and bloodied Robin and Superboy carried Red Hood, who didn't look much better than his partner.   
His grin faltered as he saw who Batman was holding. Green hair, now coated in red and the once purple suit. "That is unexpected," he muttered. Unexpected, yes, bad... not necessarily.

Then, he stared chuckling, clutching his stomach as he was full out laughing. He wiped his eyes as a creepy grin spread across his lips. "What a turn of events." Castor didn't feel sorry for his father. That man was the reason he hadn't seen his mother for so long.

When he was fourteen, the Joker had send him on one of his little _missions_ and said that he wasn't allowed home until he had completed it. Said mission took two years to finish, but he didn't go home after that no, he had been found by someone.

This someone had trained him. At first, Castor had been sceptical, but his teacher had told him that, if he completed his training, then he wouldn't have to let himself be pushed aroud anymore, he could finally stand up to his father and could start a better life with his mother. That was seven years ago. Now he was twenty-three and finally ready to come back to the city he was born in.

There were a few reasons for him to be back, actually, one being his mother. Even if he detested his father, Harley meant the world to him. He couldn't understand why she stayed with the Joker. He was treating her like dirt when all she wanted was his attention and love. He'd make it up to her. He knew that she never stopped looking for him and that was all he could ever ask for.

His second reason: revenge.   
Not on his father no, on someone who had betrayed him a long time ago. Castor frowned. Some would say it is stupid to loath a kid that was seven years younger than oneself, but Castor didn't care. He'd make him suffer.

Three, his little project. Even after he had finished his training two years ago, he never lost contact with his _master._ They stayed in touch and one and a half years ago, they'd started to work on a project called W.I.N.G.. They'd decided to buy a building here in Gotham to work on their experiment. His master was already here, but kept a low profile, so he wouldn't be on the Bat's radar. The scientists they had hired had finally succeeded with one of their test subjects and Castor was going to check out the results.

The young man forced his attention back to the people below. He could hear sirens in the distance, police or ambulance he wasn't sure, and groaned as he realized that he still needed something from his father. He pursed his lips and took out a smoke pellet filled with knock-out gas. If the bats and the team hadn't been so distracted, they probably would have been able to spot him, but they had two injured birds and a hopefully dead wanna-be father of the year to take care of, so Castor stood up to get a better aim and threw the smoke pellet on the street below.

He smirked as he saw how the heroes went down one by one. A snort escaped his lips as he heard Artemis groan out, "Not again."   
Castor jumped down the building, a fall that could have easily killed him, but he landed in a perfect roll and put on his gas mask. Then he slowly walked through the mess of limps on the ground until he reached his father. "How I'd love to let you bleed out on the streets like the rat you are."

He shook his head and his blue hair was illuminated by the pale light of the street lamp that desperately tried to shine through the still thick fog. Castor grabbed his father roughly and slung him over his shoulder, smirking at the pained moan that escaped his lips. "You deserve this." His voice was muffled from the mask and dripping with malicious joy. Then he vanished into the night.   
____________

The first one who regained consciousness was Batman, which wasn't much of a surprise, considering that this wasn't the first time someone had used knock-out gas on him. He groaned and grabbed his throbbing head. "What the hell," he muttered as he looked around and saw that the only person missing was the Joker. "Great."

He blinked to shake off the dizziness. "Sir, are you all right?" He turned around to see a concerned looking nurse looming over him, her hand stretched out as if she'd tried to touch his shoulder, but decided against it. Batman nodded and pointed to his right. "Help Robin and Red Hood." He tried to keep his emotions out of his stoic voice as he looked at the battered bodies of his sons.   
____________

Dick was sure that he was dead. There was this annoying _beep,_ _bee_ _p, beep_ and he felt numb all over. Was this how Jason had felt? He didn't like it.

His eyes shot open as he thought of his little brother. "Jason!" He bit his lip hard to stop a pained moan as fire shot up his throat. Ouch. "Hey, easy. Jason's fine." He looked up and saw Damian and Tim sitting next to his... bed? "Where..." He coughed and it felt as if shards of glass were being dragged down his throat. Tears sprung into his eyes and Damian quickly gave him a glass of water. "Drink, Grayson." Dick smiled thankfully at him and gulped down the soothing liquid.

After a second of silence, he asked, "Where am I?"   
"'Cave. You were out for two weeks. The first three days, you were in the hospital, but Batman insisted to take you and Jason down here." Dick nodded slowly. "Jason, how... how is he?"   
Damian shrugged. "Fine, I guess. Father is with him at the moment." Damian sighed. "I feel sorry for father. He had to break his code. This must be hard for him."

Dick frowned in confusion until he finally understood what Damian was saying. "Oh God," he whispered, hugging his knees to his chest. He... He had _killed_ the Joker and Batman had taken the blame. Now everyone thought _Batman_ was a killer. _Why aren't I dead, too?_ he thought. _I should be._

He started to hypervebtilate as the weight of the situation finally sunk in. He had _murdered_ someone _._ He had violated Batman's one rule. Don't kill. He gripped his hair and wimphered at the pain, but he didn't stop. He deserved it. He pulled harder. What would Batman do now? Banish him? He could hear he muffled yells of his brothers as his breath started to come out in short gasps. With an agonized scream, he lost conscious once again.  
________

Jason felt at ease. No pain and he defenitifly wasn't dead, he knew how that felt. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced around. He was in his room in Wayne Manor. He frowned. How much drugs did Bruce pump into him that he didn't feel any pain at all? His mind was foggy, probably a side-effect of whatever was in his bloodstream. He wasn't able to fully clear his sight, so he didn't notice Bruce until the man cleared his throat. "You're awake."

Jason cursed himself as he flinched slightly. "Tur' the dwuws off," he slurred. Without a sound, Bruce stood up and decreased the dosage of whatever drug he was using on Jason. With each passing second, Jason was able to think clearer, but the pain returned too, and Jason closed his eyes for a brief moment, embracing the burning in his chest. Then he turned his attention back to Bruce, who sat in a chair next to Jason's bed.

"How do you feel?"   
Anger bubbled up inside of Jason. "What do you care?" he spat, narrowing his eyes. Bruce would have let him die. Again. After Jason had finally started to trust his family, Bruce just had to destroy everything. He wouldn't have pulled that trigger. If it weren't for Dick, Jason would be _dead_. Again.

Bruce raised his hands in a calming manner. "I understand that you are angry."   
"Angry? Angry?! You would have let me die! Again! You would have chosen _the Joker_ over me and Dick! DICK! The Golden Boy, who does everything you tell him to do and now he had to _kill_ because of you, because you were too weak to do it yourself!"

Bruce flinched visibly and a strange sense satisfaction filled Jason. He wanted Bruce to feel the same pain he had felt. "You and Damian have killed too and you are okay. Dick will get over it."   
"GET OVER IT?! Do you listen to yourself?! Damian was raised by Ra's al Ghul and was trained to kill before he could walk and the Lazarus pit was messing with my head! And we weren't raised by you! Dick practically lived his whole life with the knowledge that there is only one golden rule. DON'T KILL!"

He gasped for air, glaring at his _father figure_ as pain clouded his vision. Fuck, everything hurt _._ "I just don't get it, Bruce," he whispered. "Why would you chose the Joker over us? This was different from last time. I was already dead, I get you didn't cross your line back then, but this time? You really would have let him kill us?" he asked quietly, tears finally threatening to fall.

He hated to admit it, but he had started to see Bruce as a father once again and now this. _Why?_ Most people forgot that Jason was only fifteen and just a child, that he was scarred for life and terrified of the idea of dying again. He was just a kid after all.

He looked at the tired eyes of Gotham's caped crusader. "Dick should have waited one more second."   
" _What_?"  
"I was about to pull the trigger, Jason, because I would've chosen you. I was ready to kill the Joker, but Dick beat me to it." Deep regret filled Bruce's eyes and Jason finally understood that Bruce was beating himself up for everything that had happened. "I'm sorry," mumbled Jason, looking down at his folded hands. He raised his head again as he felt a hand on his shoulder.   
"No, I should be the one apologizing. I... I should have never let you die in the first place." A small smile creeped upon Jason's features and he let Bruce embrace him in a kind of awkward hug. "If you tell the others about this, I'll kill you," threatened Jason, as he fell asleep in his father's arms.


	20. Chapter eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snipplets of the after effect this whole kidnapping story has on the Batfam

It took two weeks, one day, three hours, thirty minutes and eight seconds to convince Bruce to let Dick and Jason out of bed. They had been bored out of their minds and had finally recovered enough to move around the manor. Bruce still didn't allow them to go outside, much less on patrol, but at least they weren't bedridden anymore. It had been driving them crazy!  
_____

A knock on the door startled Dick awake. "Come in," he slurred, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He quickly threw a glance at the clock on his nightstand and groaned once he realised that he had slept in again. The door opened and Damian appeared in the threshold. "Grayson. Can we talk?" Dick nodded and patted the empty space beside him.

There was something in his baby brother's voice that was unnerving Dick; uncertainty. Damian was never uncertain, always self-confident, sometimes even too self confident for his own good- or the good of others. The young boy- sometimes Dick forgot that Damian was just ten years old- hopped onto the bed and sat cross-legged in front of his older brother. "I- uh..." He fidgeted with his hands and wouldn't meet Dick's eyes, his body tense.

"Dami?" Dick was really starting to get worried now.  
"While you were _away,_ father offered- he said- uh, I just mean..."   
"That you could be Robin?" muttered Dick softly, smiling at Damian reassuringly. So that's what this was all about. Damian didn't want to stop being Robin, but was afraid of Dick's reaction. "Hey, I'm not angry," laughed Dick, smiling and leaning back into the soft pillows. "I was expecting this to happen someday soon, anyways." Damian seemed puzzled. "But I stole your _identity_... I was Robin only one time and it is already a part if me. You've been Robin for seven years now, how can you just give it up?" Dick just shrugged. "I am not giving anything up, I just kinda... outgrew Robin, you know."

Damian looked up, hope sparkling in his ice blue eyes. "Father said something similar. That you wanted to be your own hero, out of Batman's shadow." Then he frowned and cocked his head to the side. Dick resisted the urge to coo. Damian just looked too adorable, but said boy would probably skewer him if he'd ever say that out loud, so Dick just chuckled lightly. "But don't you need a new hero persona then? I mean, you aren't going to quit the team, are you, not after they took Jason, Tim and I in."  
Dick quickly shook his head. "Of course not. I'll figure something out, don't worry, _Robin._ " Damian smiled at him, a real, toothy smile. "Thank you, Grayson."   
______

Dick sighed as he stared at the ceiling from where he was lying on his bed. It was somewhat after midnight and Bruce, Tim and Damian were on patrol, while Alfred and Jason were probably sound asleep. His eyes followed the lights that shone through his window whenever a car drove past the manor (which wasn't very often, considering that it was the middle of the night). Since they were back, Dick had insisted on sleeping without open curtains. It may sound childish, but he tried to avoid dark places. Dick sighed and ran a hand through his thick, black hair.

It had never been like this before. Kidnappings had never really scared him, except for the first few times and when it had been the real big bads. He was no stranger to pain and defenitifly no stranger to kidnappings.

Most of the time, his captors were after Richard Grayson, not Robin the Boy Wonder and expected the whole thing to end with a lot of money on their bank accounts (never really worked out well for them).

When he was kidnapped during his night job, he was a bit jumpy all the time, but most villains were just using him as bait for Batman (which didn't work out well for them either) and didn't lay a hand on him (Well, he did get knocked out a lot, but that was about it). And then there was- had been the Joker and the other regular Arkham inmates.

Dick briefly closed his eyes and sighed deeply.  
Joker had always scared him, especially after what he'd done to Jason. In his first year as Robin, Batman was careful he didn't meet the Joker and Robin never really understood what was so dangerous about him. He had never been afraid of clowns before, until his first encounter with the maniac... He shuddered at the thought. Not a pleasant memory.

And now the Joker was gone and Dick didn't knew how to feel about it. Guilty, because he had taken a life, even if it was the Joker's? Relieved, because he'll never have to be afraid of him again? Scared, because he didn't recognize himself anymore? He'd pulled that damn trigger without a second thought...

"Damn it," he muttered, sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.   
He knew he probably wouldn't get any sleep. Again. His nights had been restless since him and Jason had been rescued, the image of Joker's blood red smile burned into his brain, appearing behind his eyelids every time he closed them. He pushed himself off the soft mattress and made his way down to the living room. Maybe, if he'd watch something on TV, time would pass more quickly and morning would finally come.

As he reached the living room, he heard voices and frowned. Who else was up at a time like this? It sure as hell couldn't be any burglars, they'd have triggered the alarm. He slowly opened the door and blinked as he realised that the voices were coming from the TV.

"Jason?" His younger brother looked up. "What the fuck are you doing up?" grumbled the younger boy.  
"I could ask you the same question," countered Dick as he motioned Jason to move and dropped down on the couch next to him.

"I couldn't sleep," admitted Jason, not taking his eyes off the TV, where he was watching some cooking show. "Me neither."   
Jason sighed and glanced briefly at Dick. "Are you okay?"   
"I'm holding up."  
"Don't lie to me, Dick. We've been through this together."  
"...But you haven't killed anyone."  
Jason was silent for a moment. "And you wouldn't have almost been killed for a second time in a row."  
They watched in silence as a Chinese man told the audience how to make spaghetti bolognese. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but Jason felt the need to say something.

"You saved my life."  
"By taking another's."   
"It still counts, doesn't it?"  
After a short period of thinking, Dick whispered, "I don't know what counts anymore, Jay. I wasn't trying to kill him, I swear, I really wasn't."  
"Maybe not, and maybe you haven't. Whoever took him and knocked everyone out could have saved his life."  
Dick didn't look convinced. "Maybe."

"Thanks," muttered Jason suddenly.   
The older boy raised a playful eyebrow. "Did you just thank me for saving your life?"  
"Shut it, Grayson, or I'll shove that thanks right up your ass."  
Dick laughed quietly. "Some things never change." He smiled sadly at his brother. "How long do you think we can keep it a secret?" Jason shrugged. "You know that they wouldn't judge you. You didn't have a choice, Dick."   
"But I don't want them to know."  
"Then let's hope that no one slips up and that they don't figure it out by themselves. They have a thing for snooping around in others' businesses."  
"Yeah, they do."  
_______

"Dick?"   
The sixteen year old looked up from his homework. He had to catch up on a lot of school stuff before he'd finally return to Gotham Academy in two weeks. "Yeah, Bruce?"   
"Come with me."   
Dick nodded and followed Bruce down to the Batcave. "What are we doing here?"   
"You'll see," was all he got in response from his adopted father. Bruce had finally legally adopted him and that had been one of the best days in Dick's life.

Bruce pointed to a showcase that was covered with a black cloth. "Take it off." Dick frowned, but walked up to the showcase anyway, pulling down the cloth with a jerk of his wrist.   
He gasped at what he saw.

A suit. A black body suit with a matching domino mask. On the chest was an eye-catching blue bird, stretching its wings down over the shoulders to the elbows of the suit. "I thought you could use a new suit, Dick. Of course you are only allowed to wear it once you've fully recovered, but I thought you might want to see it."

Dick smiled, and placed his fingers on the glass. "It's perfect," he breathed, already falling in love with it. "And I have the perfect hero name." He could see Bruce raise his eyebrows in the reflection of the showcase. "That was fast." Dick smirked. "I have been thinking about this for a long time now, Bruce. The suit just triggered something inside of me, something that... I don't know how to put it..."   
Bruce smiled knowingly. "There is no word for it, Dick, but I know what you mean. I have the same feeling every time I see the Batman suit. It's like butterflies are rampaging in you stomach, isn't it?"  
Dick laughed. "Not how I'd put it, but yeah, I guess you're right."  
Bruce smiled. "So, what about your new name?"  
"What do you think of the name _'Nightwing'_? A certain Blue Boyscout gave me the idea."  
_______

"We want to help," whined Dick, pouting at Bruce, who just raised his eyebrows unimpressed. "No."  
"C'mon," tried Jason, crossing his arms in annoyance. "It's been three weeks, we can go out now."   
"No."   
"Urgh! It's hopeless!"  
Tim snickered, already in his Red Robin costume. "Can we go now, Bats."  
"Yes."  
"No."  
"You're being childish, Jason."  
"Fuck you!"  
"No thanks."  
Damian wrinkled his nose. "Gross."

"You two can stay here and do some research. Lately, children and teenagers from the age of six to eighteen have gone missing. The kidnappers don't seem to make any differences between race, skin colour, gender, religion or social status and no ransom demands have been made. Everything I have on the case is in the files on the Bat-computer. Just look for _P_ _roject W.I.N.G._ _._ We'll be back in the morning."

And with that, Batman, Red Robin and Robin left the Batcave. "This is your fault," pouted Dick, glaring slightly at Jason. "You were being too pessimistic."   
"Say what now?"  
 ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter´s gonna be the epilogue


	21. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma post a sneak peak for the sequel soon

**Castor will not be the main** **villain** **of the next book!!** **His master is (and he is a DC villain)!**

"Didn't you say he SURVIVED?"   
The scientist flinched and fumbled with his clipboard. "I- uh... He did, but..."  
"But what?!" Castor pointed at the body of the young boy, a _very_ small boy. "Does that look ALIVE to you?"   
The scientist, a middle-aged man with greasy brown hair, pushed his big glasses higher up his nose with trembling fingers. "He _did_ survive, but the _wings_... It was like they were _eating_ him from the inside out. Within a few seconds, the wings were as big as a car, but the boy; he was getting thinner and smaller. In a matter of seconds, he was dead and looked like a two year old. I think the wings were using him to grow and draining away his life force."

Castor sighed and pitched the bridge of his nose. "Get back to work. We need at least one successful transformed test subject before the bats notice us."

The scientist nodded hastily and hurried back inside the small fabric they had rented. He hated to work for the Joker's son, but he knew of his and his father's reputation and you don't say 'no' to a mad man with guns- or to anyone with guns, for that matter.

"Don't worry, we will succeed."   
Castor turned as he heard his partner's voice. "Of course. You've never failed before and you won't now." He couldn't see the older man's face under the mask, but he was sure he was wearing an almost arrogant smile. "Of course. Why are you back here? Did you get your father's money?"   
Castor nodded and a smirk crept across his face. "Oh, I did, but that is not all." The superior villain raised an eyebrow- well, Castor suspected he did. "I figured out the Batfam's identities."

The older man rolled his eyes in disgust at the stupid name- seriously, who calls them _Batfam_ \- but remained calm. He couldn't let his former apprentice know how he really felt about him- that excuse of an assassin. Castor was too much like his father, his thoughts jumped from one topic to the next and he couldn't stay still for longer than forty minutes. His fighting skills were a joke (no pun intended) and his voice was way too high. It was annoying the crap out of him. "Then tell me their names, Castor." He kept his voice neutral, not betraying any of his pejorative thoughts. He really wished he could punch that grin off his face.

"Batman is _Bruce_ _Wayne_ , a fucking Billionaire, can you believe it?! Batgirl is Barbara Gordon, Red Robin is Tim Drake, Red Hood is Jason Todd and _Robin_ is-"

"Richard Grayson," finished the older man. He was smirking by now. Of course Robin would be an acrobat, it was obvious. And that the boy was an orphan- face the facts, Batman _couldn't_ be a father-of-the-year example of a foster parent, was just helping his plans.

"I still don't get what you have against Robin, though," muttered Castor, pulling him out of his thoughts. The man surpressed the urge to cut him in half with his sword.   
"That's none of your concern." The boy frowned. "Maybe, but _I_ have a personal interest in Dick. I don't care about Robin, but I want Dick Grayson."   
"Of course."  
"When should we attack? I could go right now-"   
"No. The best way to hurt him is by hurting his family. I already have a plan." A devilish smirk spread across his lips. "And when we are finished with them, you can get the boy." _Not. You'll be dead by then._

Castor laughed, a really ridiculous high-pitched bad guy laugh, which made the assassin wonder once more why he put up with him. "I knew I could count on you."

The master's smirk widened. The boy was so easy to manipulate, no naive. He needed him to get to Robin- and to get to Robin, he had to get to his family- but after they were in his clutches, he'd get rid of Joker's son and Robin would be his _once more._  
 ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end!! Phew, this was interesting. So, what do you think of the end? Who is this master, (he is a DC character) and what exactly are him and Castor working on? And what did he mean with "and Robin would be his once more?"


	22. Sneak Peak

**Little sneak peak for the upcoming sequel**

_Two years later:_

It all started with a master and an apprentice. The apprentice, a young man in his mid-twenties, still believed he and his master had a partnership, that he was no subordinate, but in fact an equal.   
But for the master, there was only one student, only one boy good enough to follow in his footsteps one day. _And he was going to get that boy._ But to do so, the man must take precautions and have back-up plans for his pack-up plans and things like that took time. There was one last obstacle he had to overcome and he knew just the right way to do so.

"Master?" This time, the one addressing the man as 'master' wasn't a blue-haired boy, it was a girl.   
Joker's son had no clue about the other apprentice the master had trained and was still training, Castor thought he was _special_. A cruel grin stretched the man's lips. There was only one special child out there, the one who rejected him, the only person who had earned his respect. 

He looked down at the girl that bowed swiftly. He once again asked himself how old she was. Sixteen? Seventeen? He didn't really care. She was small for her age, but her looks only deceived her enemies. She was deadly, just like him.

"Apprentice," he greeted her coolly. The girl still had her head bowed, not meeting his eyes.  
Submissive.   
That's how the he wanted his students. A defiant student only got himself hurt and a hurt apprentice was useless on missions. The man was playing a dangerous game, a game that could cost him his head if he didn't control his apprentices. He needed them bound in chains of respect, needed the idea of them overpowering him burned out of their minds. 

He had taken her in when she was still a toddler, taken her right out of the hospital bed, so she'd grow up with the knowledge that she is nothing without him. Unfortunately, Castor was different.

All the man wanted was to impale that useless boy with one of his swords, or both, but sadly, he still needed him. The master took a great risk by taking Joker's son under his wing, but with the boy's hate for Robin- no, _Nightwing_ \- corrected the man himself, Castor would do anything to get his revenge, and that just happened to be exactly what the master needed him to do. It is almost cute, seeing how Castor thought himself as a great martial arts master.

The man chuckled. Rage blinded those who were too weak to control themselves, that was the reason he didn't tell Castor that Robin was no Robin anymore, no little birdie, that there was in fact a new Robin on the streets, a Robin the master hated almost as much as _Dick Grayson_. Damian al Guhl. The man's smirk widened. Maybe he'd get to kill two birds with one stone. Quite literally. 

"You have a new mission. You'll find everything you need in your room," he instructed coldly, staring impassively at the girl.  
She bowed her head once more and nodded.  
"You're dismissed."  
She left without a word.

Whenever he had a mission assignment for his apprentices, he summoned them to his 'throne room', that's what Castor called it. Basically, it was a huge plain room with a throne-like chair in the middle of it and a holographic computer wall. His haunt wasn't as big as most people might think it was. 

In addition to the 'throne room', he had a huge open-air training area, his personal bed room with an additional kitchen and bath room, entering was a big no-no for anyone, and then there was the hallway with two other rooms. 

The girl was living with him, though they barely ever saw each other, while Castor had his own apartment in the northern part of Gotham, but the man had a room for him in his haunt anyway. 

He allowed his apprentices free roam of the city, they could even leave the county if they wanted to or rent their own houses, he and his she-apprentice had lived on different sides of the world for some time, but if he called them back for a mission, he expected obedience. That was the deal. 

The girl had agreed to stay with him for the time being, though she was spending a lot of time in the gym or the library over the day. He didn't supervise her, she was loyal to a fault.  
Castor's small apartment on the other hand was cross-linked with hidden cameras and microphones. That boy's ego was too big for his own good.

He sighed and turned his attention to the holographic screens. Time to cage a bird.


	23. Sequel

The sequel is out! It's called 'Project W.I.N.G.' Please check it out.

I also wanted to thank you all for reading this and hope you'll like the second book, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, thank you guys so much for your support and sweet comments. I love to hear your thoughts on this and hope you will like the sequel too.


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